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8-16-20 




J. A. McWeeney. 
(" McW." of Football Star and Leader.) 




Spalding "Red Cover" Series of 

Athletic Handbooks 

No. 39R 



HOW TO PLAY 

"SOCCER" 



BY 

S. BLOOMER 

J. T. ROBERTSON 

J. KIRWAN 

J. ASHCROFT 

W. BULL 

A. COMMON 

A. McCOMBIE 

J. CAMERON and 

"McW" 



EDITED BY 

J. A. McWEENEY 

("McW." of "Football Star" and "Leader") 
London, England 




PUBLISHED BY 

AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING 
L!=j J=jl COMPANY 

■ — ' L_ ' '-—) 21 Warren Street, New York 

onr 



njjci 










We reprint in this issue of Spalding's Athletic Library, with 
permission of the publishers, the British Sports Publishing Com- 
pany, Ltd., 2 and 3 Hind Court, Fleet Street, London, England, 
the contents of a copyrighted book issued by them, ''How to Play 
Soccer," written by leading English authorities on the game. 
The book has had a very large sale in Great Britain, and with thr 
prominence recently assumed by the game in America, the work 
will undoubtedly prove a valuable acquisition to the player. 

American Sports Publishing Company. 



N, A570552 






Contents 

PAGE 

Introduction 4 

How to Keep Goal, by J. Ashcroft, Blackburn Rovers, 
1913-14 (A.) 5 

How to Play Full-Back, by A. McCombie, out of Football.. 17 

How to Play Centre-Half, by W. Bull, Northampton 
(1912-13) Southern League 2"] 

Hew to Play Half-Back, by J. T. Robertson, 1912-13 Man- 
ager Chelsea F. C 35 

How to Play Centre-Forward, by A. Common, 1912-13, Wool- 
wick Arsenal 45 

How to Play Inside-Right, by S. Bloomer, 1912-13, Derby 
County 53 

How to Play the Outside-Forward Position, by J. Kirwan. . 59 

Advice and Hints to the Young Football Player, by J. 
Cameron 68 

A Chat on many Football Topics, by J. A. McWeeney 80 

Definition of Terms ........ 88 



Introduction 



I believe that my readers will agree with me that never before 
has any one produced so complete a guide to the playing of the 
Association Football game as is to be found in this book, "How 
to Play Soccer." A glance at the names of the contributors will 
convince you of this. The articles are contributed by star 
artists of the game and each man writes concerning his own 
special position on the field and how to play it. Surely, no 
better authorities could be found. The proverb runs that "Good 
wine needs no bush." I have sufficient confidence in the wine 
which I am offering you to leave the verdict to you. 

The Editor. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 



How to Keep Goal 

By James Ashcroft. 

[James Ashcroft, who writes below on the art of goal-keeping, 
was the famous custodian of the Woolwich Arsenal F. C. 
One more competent to deal with the subject could scarcely 
be found. That he is a magnificent goal-keeper was evidenced 
in the season 1905-06, when he was selected to play in all 
three International matches and in the inter-League game 
against Scotland besides. He is a custodian who keeps goal 
with his brain, and the judgment which has made him great 
on the football field has stood him in good stead now that he 
writes concerning the position which he fills with such rare 
ability. He played with the Blackburn Rovers in 1913-14- 
Ashcroft is a fine type of the professional who is a gen- 
tleman.] 

Most of my readers will recognize the fact that it is not the 
most learned man in any subject who makes the best teacher of 
it. It is given to some to impart knowledge readily and easily 
to their pupils. To others, the gift, or knack, is denied. It is 
with some diffidence, then, that I make my first venture at pro- 
fessorship, not knowing really whether I am possessed of the gift 
of imparting to others the little knowledge which some years of 
experience between the posts has given me. I lay; no claim to 
genius or even originality. If in my rough and unpolished literary 
style I can only give some helpful hints to beginners, or can bring 
my reader a step or two nearer to his International Cap, then 
shall I be perfectly satisfied. Moreover, if this my first lecture 
from the professorial chair turns out a success, possibly when my 
football days are over you will find me the scholastic head of 
Ashcroft's Academy of Goal-Keeping. 

CONCERNING HEIGHT. 

I assume, my dear pupils, that each one of you has made up 
his mind to become a Macaulay or a Doig, a Roose or a Robinson. 
Have you, however, the necessary qualifications? If you stand 
only five feet two in your stocking soles, let me advise youto 
play forward or back or half-back. The goal-keeper's position 
is not for you. To be a good goal-keeper you must have height. 
I do not mean that a man of 5 feet 6 inches or 5 feet 7 inches 
cannot become a great custodian. Were that so, I should never 









Goal-keeper Saving. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC MllllAlil 7 

have witnessed a most brjlliant display by Tim V. 
against Tottenham Hot-pur m an Englisli Cup Ti< some seasons 
ago. Williamson, as you know, is only a "little 'un." Nor do i 
iiold that great height is an advantage in a goal keeper. True, 
Nature has endowed Fryer with a plethora of niches and he is 
a fine goal-keeper. That fact, however, is no argument against 
me. 1 contend that, as a rule, whilst the very tall man is 
for the high shot-,, his very height is a disadvantage when he has 
to deal with the lightning "daisy croppers." I hold that 
9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches is the beau ideal height for the man 
between the posts. Rooge and Robinson, in the matter of inches, 
were built by Nature to keep goal. 1 would say to the beginner 
tl at if he is under 5 feet 7 inches it would probably be wiser for 
him to cultivate an ability for playing some other position in the 
game. With necessary height I presume you have concomitant 
length of arm. Such a qualification is as helpful in goal-keeping 
as in boxing. Moreover, a goal-keeper must not carry too much 
flesh. The great Foulke may be instanced as an argument 
against my contention, but it must be remembered that the <>ld 
Sheffield United man is a law unto himself. Take a thousand 
men of Foulke's hulk and you probably would not find one to 
compare with him for a moment in the matter of agility and 
rapid action. 

MUST BE ROBUST. 

Do not undertake the goal-keeper's duties unless you arc 
absolutely robust. By this I do not mean solely that you art. 
able to take hard knocks, but that you have a really strong con 
stitution. Time and again you will he left for long sti etches to 
do nothing but twirl your lingers as you stand beneath the cross- 
bar. Your side may be attacking nearly all the time, and mean- 
while you must stand very frequently on damp grass shivering 
with cold and inviting an onslaught from pneumonia or the 
influenza fiend. If you are constitutionally strong, you can laugh 
at damp, colds in the head and rheumatic twinges. 

NERVES. 

A goal-keeper must not be a man of nerves. No position on 
the field is so conducive to the begetting of nervousness. And 
why? The goal-keeper knows that he is absolutely the last line 
of defense. Forwards may blunder and so may half-hacks and 
backs and no serious harm may accrue, but the man between the 
sticks knows full well that his blunder is nearly always irretriev- 
able. That is not a comforting thought to nurse as you witch a 




A " Throw In," First Position, 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 9 

line of attackers swooping down on you, and if you once give 
way to funk it is all up with you. 

JUDGMENT. 

Let us assume, then, that you have the height and reach, that 
you are constitutionally robust and are not of a nervous tem- 
perament; how are you to excel as a goal-keeper? The first 
thing to clo is to cultivate judgment. That may sound a simple 
matter, but is it? True judgment in a goal-keeper is not a mere 
affair of the football ground alone. It is a something which is 
learnt by the study of men in everyday life. If you are an 
observer of character in the people whom you meet in your 
ordinary avocations, you will find that this observation is most 
helpful in forming judgment on the football field. You are in 
the best position in the game to study the methods, tricks and 
plans of your opponents. You watch them carefully and you 
note that the play of one dovetails with that of another, that one 
wing is speedier than another, that when the attacking line comes 
within shooting distance it is the inside-right who is fed in 
preference, say, to the center or inside-left ; in fact, you regard 
matters as a general watches the tactics of an attacking force, and 
so you form your conclusions and prepare your defense accord- 
ingly. Therefore, I say to the beginner, do not spend your time, 
when the ball is away up the field, leaning listlessly against the 
goal-post or chatting with your friends behind the net. Football 
is now a science, and goal-keeping must be done on scientific 
lines if you are to be a success. Correct judgment can come 
only from close observation. Therefore do not concern yourself 
with the weakness of your own team; it is for you to analyze 
the reasons of the enemy's success, so that you may check him 
by judicious defense. 

COURAGE. 

Many a man who would really have become a great goal- 
keeper has thrown away his chance of greatness for lack of 
courage. Hard knocks are not much of an attraction, but if you 
are to win medals and glory you must put up with the risks of 
warfare. You run plenty of risks in goal-keeping. If, before 
stepping on the field, you think of nothing but the troubles 
which are in store for you, you may take it for granted that you 
have met troubles more than half way. You are unnerved, and 
your goal-keeping is sure to suffer. Go out to play without a 
thought of what's in store for you. I don't know if you have ever 
by force of circumstances been thrown into a fight which you 
did not seek. At the outset vou are in a kind of shiver of 




Finish of a " Throw In. : 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 11 

nervousness, but once you have had a smack on the jaw your 
diffidence has disappeared and you scarcely notice the hard 
knocks you receive in the fray. So is it in goal-keeping. The 
best incentive to good work is a rough-and-tumble early in the 
game. The lighting instinct is aroused, and the harder the tussle 
the greater is your delirium of delight. Courage is easily 
acquired. I believe that every man has got pluck and courage. 
It is only because the occasion has not arisen for their display 
that a man is ever diffident of these characteristics. Therefore, 
if you have the qualifications necessary for the making of a good 
goal-keeper, do not worry about the courage. It will come to 
you when the necessity for the exercise of it arises. 

SPEED. 

Speed is a necessity for a good goal-keeper, and if you would 
excel, I would counsel you to cultivate it by indulging in short 
sprints for practice. As you are never called to race the full 
length of the field, as is the case with the forwards, there is no 
occasion for cultivating running stamina, but, as I have said, you 
must cultivate the sprint. Your running in goal-keeping is of the 
nature of a quick dash, and so it is to your interest to learn how 
to get quickly off the mark. The ball is swung in from the wing. 
In a moment you must decide whether you can reach it more 
quickly than the forward for whom it was intended. Judgment 
says "Yes." It is then a case of dash. A leaden-footed goal- 
keeper sacrifices opportunities. 

SOME HINTS. 

Now for some hints to serve as a guide for your conduct 
between the posts. Never, never, never use your feet to save 
when you can possibly use your hands. The reason is obvious. 
With your hands you can grasp the ball securely and throw it out 
of danger. When you use either foot, there is never certainty in 
your kick. The ball may easily glance off your boot either into 
the net or to the foot of an opponent. Moreover, with the other 
side bearing down on the goal, though you may get in your kick, 
there is always the danger that you will not lift the ball over 
the heads of the attackers, but instead may send it against the 
body of one of them, or may have your kick charged down. 
When, however, you use your hands, you are perfectly sure of 
throwing the ball over the heads of your opponents or of dodging 
a charge, and there is far more chance of placing the ball in a 
position advantageous to your side. Of course occasions arise 
when it is absolutely imperative for you to kick, and so, in your 
work, it will be well to indulge in some kicking practice, for- 








, 



: - ! 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 13 

getting for a time that you have got hands at all. You will then 
cultivate a certainty, a sureness in kicking and in placing the ball, 
which will stand you in good stead when you must have recourse 
to footwork in the game proper. The safest method then is to 
catch the ball and, if you have time, kick to that position on the 
field where your side most needs the ball. If you are rushed, 
then you must throw. Always refrain from fisting a wet and 
greasy ball and catch if possible, as you can usually dodge the 
onrushing forward and kick or throw clear. 

Even during the hottest skirmishes in goal, with a cool head, 
which every goal-keeper should possess, you will realize the 
exact position occupied by the men of your own team. This 
quick perception comes with practice, and you must use it to 
dispose of the ball to the best advantage. I .consider it a good 
plan to throw out to your wing men, provided they are not too 
closely watched, for, even though che ball be intercepted by one 
of your opponents, his shot at goal would have to come at an 
acute angle, and such a shot is never too sure. 

FISTING. 

There come many times in every game when the best policy 
is neither to throw nor kick, but to fist. Fisting, let me assure 
you, is an acquired art. Beginners are apt to punch the ball as 
if they were landing home a straight drive in boxing. Fisting, 
however, is scarcely punching. You must learn to bring your 
arm over, as if going to deliver a fast ball in cricket, in such 
a manner that you hit the football with the ball of your thumb 
and wrist. You will find that in this way you get in a much 
more powerful hit than if you attempted to drive from the 
shoulder. There is a time, however, when this style of fisting 
does not pay, and it is when a fast, high shot is sent in which 
threatens to sail just under the cross-bar. Then you must jump 
at the psychological moment and, using both hands, glide the 
ball with palms of hands over the bar. It is better and safer, 
I contend, to give a corner kick, which may be productive of 
no harm whatever, than to keep the ball in play in dangerous 
proximity to your goal. 

COMPACT WITH YOUR BACKS. 

As a goal-keeper you should make a compact with your backs 
that they should not get in your line of vision, especially when a 
corner kick is being taken. The best goal-keeper in the world 
is helpless if he does not get a sight of the ball until it comes 
under the cross-bar. When a corner kick is being taken by your 
own side, the best position for the goal-keeper to take up is 




A Right-footed Pass. 



SrALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 15 

against the upright furthest away from the corner flag where the 
kick is being taken. It is always easier to run in to a ball than 
to run back for it. If you are by the upright nearest the kicker 
and he sends the ball well across the mouth of the goal, you have 
to scamper back to be in position ; whereas, if you are by the 
more distant upright you can, by taking a couple of steps, be 
ready to meet the ball no matter how it comes. Above all things, 
impress upon your fellow-players to give you a clear view of the 
man taking the corner kick. 

THE PENALTY KICK. 

The most terrible ordeal a goal-keeper has to face is the 
penalty kick. It is a duel between you and the surest shot on 
the other side, with matters much in favor of your adversary. 
Try always to recollect, at the crucial time, and strive to realize, 
that if nervousness is absent in your own case you have got some- 
thing substantial in your favor. Weigh up your chances in the 
encounter. To begin with, you may assume that your opponent 
will not try to send in a high shot because of the danger of 
shooting over the bar. Neither, under ordinary circumstances, 
will the ball be directed close in to either of the uprights, because 
the kicker will be fearful of shooting outside the posts. Having 
argued the matter out this far, you may safely make the deduction 
that your enemy will shoot at the weakest spot, and that, as a rule, 
is to your left-hand side. These deductions are by no means 
infallible, but they are useful remembrances at the time of crisis. 
Adapt your position accordingly, and then turn a mesmeric eye 
on the man about to kick. A good boxer will watch his 
opponent's eyes because they are a sure index of intention 
Watch the eyes of the man taking the kick, and oftentimes you 
will diagnose his intention. Remember, above all things, not to 
be nervous. There is no occasion for nervousness. If you fail 
to stop a penalty shot, there is no disgrace attached. If you 
succeed, however, there is glory and congratulation. It is a case, 
as far as you yourself are concerned, of very much to gain and 
very little to lose, so why should you be downhearted? 

My final advice to the budding goal-keeper is, ''Prove yourself 
a gentleman both on and off the field." Play the game in such 
a way that you bring credit upon it. Do not grumble at the 
training work which you must go through if you would excel. 
Finally, have no quarrel with the referee. It is aggravating, 
I know, to have a goal chalked up against you which ought to 
have been disallowed, but that is one of the trials which are 
the test of character. I have played very many games in my 
time and up till now I have never known a wilfully dishonest 
referee. 







A Pass from Left. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 17 



How to Play Full-Back 

By A. McCombie. 

[There is a nursery of football far North in Inverness which 
has produced such giants of the game as Peter McWilliam, 
Roddy McEachrane and A. McCombie, the latter of whom 
is the writer of the article printed below. Some men are 
born to greatness and, as far as the honors of the foot- 
ball field are concerned, A. McCombie was one of these. 
For his country, Scotland, he has worn the International 
Cap, and for his club, Newcastle United, he did sterling 
work as a full-back. He was a brainy player who had a 
"why" and "wherefore" for his every act. No player knows 
more about the science of back play, and he brings all his 
knowledge to bear on the subject with which he deals so 
ably below. Like the thoughtful Scot that he is, A. McCom- 
bie does not put all his eggs in the one basket, and though 
now out of football and with a comfortable business to 
occupy his full time he nevertheless takes a keen interest 
in the game.] 

"Defense and Defiance" should be the motto of every young 
player who sets out with the intention of making himself a first- 
rate full-back. It must be remembered, however, that defense, 
rather than defiance, is the first thing to be studied. Immedi- 
ately behind you is the spot on which the enemy is concentrating 
his attack. The goal is a citadel which must be preserved intact. 
You- are on the last line of defense, and therefore it behooves 
you to make yourself a master of strategy and tactics, because an 
error on your part is fraught with far more serious consequences 
than that of the line of skirmishers which lead your attack or that 
of the middle line. Half-backs and forwards may make slips and 
mistakes and yet retrieve themselves. The full-back has but 
little chance of retrieving either his error of play or his error of 
judgment. Hence, before deciding that full-back is a position 
which you could fill with credit, you must weigh up its responsi- 
bilities and duties. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

The first question to ask yourself before concluding that you 
can fill the role of the last line of defense is, "Am I suited for the 
position?" Your answer must depend upon your conscientious 
belief in the various qualifications which go to make the good 
full-back. And what are these qualifications? Very many good 



SPALDING'S ATIILETJC LIBRARY. 19 

judges of the game argue that height and weight are necessities. 
I myself am no stickler for a standard of weight or inches. 
Good full-back play does not depend upon avoirdupois or lordli- 
ness of stature. You may be a pocket edition of Goliath, as is 
Crompton or Howard Spencer, or you may lack inches, as does 
Burgess, but, be you 6 feet 6 or 5 feet nothing, with weight 
according, you may in either case be a beau ideal of a defender. 
For my own part I believe that excess of inches is a drawback 
to a good defender. The very tall man is at a disadvantage 
when dealing with the Bonds and Hardmans of the attacking 
line. The big man cannot get down to them in a charge, and 
the nippy forward is ever a source of trouble to the back of 
many inches. 

It is certain, of course, that the full-back needs grit. A 
shortage of weight is amply atoned for by the presence of pluck 
and dash, and no man, provided of course that he is not abso- 
lutely fragile, need fear to take on the duties of full-back, so long 
as he is possessed of confidence and courage. A feather-weight 
will not do for the position, but anyone above that mark will do 
so long as the other qualifications are not lacking. 

SURE TACKLING. 

The first qualification of a back is that he should be a sure 
tackier. I put tackling before kicking because, after all, you 
must get possession of the ball before you can dispose of it. To 
be a good tackier, you must be fearless. By that I do not mean 
that you should be reckless. A reckless player is never safe. I 
have in my mind's eye, as I write, the personality of an amateur 
full-back. No one could ever accuse him of cowardice. If the 
opposing forward were as big as a mountain this man would go 
for him, although his inches were few. I never knew him to be 
daunted. He would rush, heedless of consequences, into the 
thick of the fray. His action spoke of pluck, but not of judg- 
ment. In point of fact, he was reckless, and the clever forwards 
were not slow to notice this weakness, for weakness it was. He 
had not learnt the science of tackling. In this branch of defense 
your method must be constantly varied. A continued repetition 
of similar tactics proclaims you a poor defender. 

To know how to tackle you must study the methods of the 
attackers. No set of rules will answer for all cases. A certain 
outside winger may have the happy knack of carrying the ball 
right down to the corner flag and then centring accurately. 
Another may not be possessed of that happy gift, and his centres 
must be negotiated much further up the field. A third may be 
an adept at transferring the ball at the psychological moment to 



20 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

his inside man or to his centre forward. Yet another may depend 
for his success on his ability to send the ball right across to the 
opposite wing. The peculiarities of these different types must be 
noted by you, and your conduct must be shaped accordingly. 
The touch-line sprinter must be met fairly and squarely. Your 
defense is right in front of him. The man who plays to his 
inside man or centre forward must be met with a feint. Your 
rush must be made towards him, as if you were going to snatch 
the ball from him. Then you pull yourself up suddenly, ready 
to intercept the ball as he tries to pass it. In the case of the man 
who slings the ball from wing to wing, you must go for him, 
without hesitation, to rush down his kick or spoil it, and you 
must have an understanding with your fellow-back, that he may 
be ready to go for the ball if it travels across the field. 

GOOD JUDGMENT. 

The first requisite, then, for a good tackier is sound judg- 
ment. This judgment comes from close observation. Once you 
determine to tackle, let there be no hesitation. Make up your 
mind instantly, and, once you have done so, back up your judg- 
ment by your action. There can be no half-measures in tackling. 
That it may be successful, you must be whole-hearted. An 
attack, to be a successful attack, must be fearless and unrelent- 
ing. No quarter must be given, and, even though you go down, 
you will have accomplished your aim, because you will have 
disconcerted the plan of your opponent. 

GOOD KICKING. 

I have placed tackling before kicking as the prime qualification 
of a back, and do so advisedly. You may not be able to kick 
a ball twenty yards and it may matter but little, since, after 
all, hard kicking partakes more of the nature of attack than of 
defense, but tackling is primarily a matter of defense. However, 
to be a really great back you must be able not only to tackle 
but also to kick. Many a man thinks because he can tackle and 
take a charge and can kick hard that therefore he is a competent 
back. Hard kicking oftentimes betrays a weakness of defense. 
It is not a case of how hard you can kick so much as how well 
you can kick which determines a man's capabilities. What is 
the use of the long kick which places the ball at the toe of an 
opposing back? The secret of successful kicking lies not in 
how hard or how far you can kick the ball as in how well you 
can kick it. Give me the man who can send it to the spot where 
it will be of the most advantage to his side, even though it be but 
a matter of ten feet away, rather than the one who indulges in 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 21 

mighty lunges and gigantic kicks without a notion of the 
ball's eventual destination. Sure kicking, by which I mean the 
power to connect with the ball nearly every time, is good, but 
certain kicking is better. By certain kicking I mean the power 
which a back possesses of sending the ball to the very spot 
which he intended. 

ACCURACY. 

In billiards you so play the objective ball that it may bring you 
the best possible result. So must it be in football. When you 
propel the ball you must have a certain end in view, and that end 
must be that you leave the ball in such a position that it will be 
of service to your partner. This accuracy of aim is not easy of 
attainment. Practice alone can make you perfect. The play in 
matches is all very well for creating a sureness of touch, but this 
sureness is better acquired by giving the matter attention when 
you are not weighted by the responsibility of the game itself. [ 
have read of bowlers in cricket who cultivate accuracy of length 
by constantly trying to land the ball on a certain marked spot. 
If you would be a good full-back you must follow that example. 
When practising you must make it your aim to kick the ball from 
certain positions on the field so that it will land time and time 
again on the very spot which you intended. Such practice work 
may be tedious, but no man ever excelled in any art who did 
not give the apparently trivial matters his serious attention. 
Learn then, first of all, to kick with accuracy before attempting 
to kick with force. 

SPEED. 

A back, to excel, should be possessed of a good turn of speed. 
A leaden-footed man is of little use in football, and particularly 
is this so in the case Of defenders. It stands to reason that on 
various occasions a back will be outwitted by the opposing 
forwards. The back who stands still under such circumstances 
is inviting trouble for his side. As a boy I remember Donald 
Gow, who played full-back for the Glasgow Rangers and Sun- 
derland, one of the neatest and cleanest kicks it has been 
my lotto know. But he had his little weakness. Although possessed 
of a good turn of speed, if the opposing forward beat him 
he would not bother to run after him, rather allowing the 
half-back or his partner to overtake him. It was said of 
him that, despite his size and weight, he could overhaul the 
fastest forward. Such speed is a splendid endowment. I 
would advise all beginners, then, to cultivate speed. Long- 
distance running and endurance trials are not called for. The 
back who would excel ought to practice short distance run- 




IBHEmB 



• 



Finish of a "Centre" from Left Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 23 

ning and sprinting. He will find it most helpful when a flying 
winger gives him the slip. He cannot afford to stand still. 
He must go after the elusive one without a moment's hesitation, 
and he has the best of the handicap in this, that the opposing 
forward has already put in a sprint before tricking him. Under 
the circumstances the back stands .a good chance of overtaking 
the forward. 

It has been said of many backs that they were "one-foot 
kickers," that is to say, that whilst they were sure with the left 
or the right foot, as the case might be, they could not use both 
equally well. Such a failing is a bad one. Because you happen 
to be a right back is no reason why your kicking should all be 
done with the right foot. You must learn to kick with both 
right and left. You are not given the opportunity in a match of 
deciding how the ball will come to you. You must be able to 
kick equally well with either foot. Therefore in practice you 
must make it a point of giving both feet equal chances. 

HEADING. 

I dearly love to see a back who knows how to head a ball. 
Heading is a necessity for a good back. Time and time again, 
in the course of a match, the ball is sent into the danger zone 
in front of goal. With a host of players all hovering around it is 
hopeless to expect the ball always to drop where you can reach 
it with your foot. In scrimmages in front of goal good play 
with trie head is invaluable. You can reach with the head that 
which you cannot hope to touch with the foot. The full-back, of 
all men, is the one who should learn this art. Accuracy of eye 
and judgment is necessary for this play, but this accuracy can be 
cultivated. 

DANGEROUS TACTICS. 

There is one thing a back should always remember, and it is 
that he ought net as a rule to keep the ball. That is the perquisite 
of the forwards. When you get it, nine times out of ten it is in 
the danger zone. If you dally with it you are inviting trouble. 
The forwards may swoop down on you and rob you. It may 
seem very fine to hold the ball and trick and dodge your 
opponents, but such play is dangerous. The spectators may 
laugh at and cheer your cleverness, but they would howl at you 
if your trickery allowed the other side to score. After all, it is 
better to be sure than sorry, and so my advice to the full-back is 
to get rid of the ball at the earliest opportunity and to the best 
possible advantage to his side. 




Finish of a "Centre" from Right Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 25 

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING. 

As a back you will never excel in play if you have not a 
thorough understanding with your brother back. You should 
always have matters so arranged between you that there is 
no hesitancy when the crucial time comes. There should be, 
for instance, a mutual understanding between you that, given 
certain conditions, one should play the ball, the other the man. 
In fact, the matter is summed up in a nutshell when I say, 
"Study combination." This combination should also take into 
account your half-backs. You must thoroughly understand the 
methods of your fellow-players in the intermediate line and 
ever be ready to cover their slips and errors. 

ON CHARGING. 

The gentle art of charging an opponent seems to have almost 
disappeared. I am sorry for this. Whilst no believer in the 
argument of brute force, I am fully persuaded that a good charge 
is oftentimes a back's best policy. You must be fair, of course, 
in this style of defense. You do not need either great weight or 
height to be able to charge well. There is a knack in this art 
which, once acquired, enables the little man to overthrow the 
Goliaths. 

The full-back is generally expected to mark the outside forward 
in the attacking line, the outside half-backs accounting for the 
inside men. You must, to excel, be observant of the play and 
methods of the man whom you are to hold in check. Watch his 
manner of tricking others, so that he may not trick you. When 
you have made up your mind as to the line you are going to 
adopt in meeting him, never hesitate in putting your plan into 
practice. The old motto, "He who hesitates is lost," is particu- 
larly applicable to the full-back. As a back, remember to have 
some consideration for your goal-keeper. By that I do not mean 
solely that you are to do your best in saving him from the attacks 
of the enemy. What I mean is that you must not crowd him. 
He must be given plenty of room for his work and. above all, a 
clear view of the ball. For four seasons and a half there could 
not have existed a much better understanding than that between 
Doig, Watson and myself. We had confidence in each other- 
Have some confidence in the man behind you ; have some 
confidence in the man in front of you: but above all things, 
have confidence in yourself. 




Goal-keeper Kicking Out from Goal, 



SPALDING\S ATHLETIC L1BKAKY. 27 



How to Play Centre-Half 

By Walter Bull. 

[Alfred Gibson ("Rover") in "Association Football and the Men 
Who Made It," describes Walter Bull as '"probably the best 
half-back who has not worn an International Cap." The best 
judges are agreed that Walter has not had his fair share of 
the plums, but we live in hopes of yet seeing him fight 
for his country against Sandy, Paddy and Taffy. In him 
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and Northampton of the Southern 
League, with whom he played in 1912-13, had more than 
a very talented half-back. He is an exemplar both on and 
off the field. Walter Bull has thoroughly studied his part, 
and when he plays he is invariably "line perfect." In the 
article from his pen, which is given below, he has succeeded 
admirably in putting his knowledge upon paper, and with 
such a tutor the beginner who would play centre-half should 
have little difficulty in surmounting his initial obstacles. Wal- 
ter Bull is a man whom the beginner might imitate to 
advantage as a pattern of a player and as a type of nature's 
gentleman.] 

It has been said, and rightly said, that the half-back line is the 
"crux" of the team. A weak half-back line means, as a rule, a 
weak side; whilst a strong one will often convert an otherwise 
team of mediocrities into a powerful combination. And just as, 
in my opinion, a team is only as strong as its middle line, so this 
line is only as strong as its dominant factor — the centre man. 
Weakness of the left or right half can be covered, but the man 
in the middle, to my mind, is th ■ man who makes or mars. 

When, then, you resolve to give football a trial, do not hug the 
belief to your bosom that centre-half is the position for you 
simply because in that sphere you will have the best of oppor- 
tunities of distinguishing yourself. It is true that centre-half 
affords wonderful scope for the man of indubitable merit, but 
you must recollect that the greater the opportunity the greater 
the responsibility. It seems to me that in this position you must 
either be a great success or a great failure. There is no happy 
medium. Therefore you must not take upon yourself the task 
too lightly. As a man of mediocre ability you may do all right 
in every other position on the field. As a centre-half you must 
excel, or else give way to some one more talented than yourself. 




An " Overhead" Fly Kick. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 29 

THE KEY TO THE POSITION. 

On the battlefield the general sees that his troops are so dis- 
posed that the part of his army which is to sustain the brunt of 
onslaught, and yet is the one to back up a frontal attack, is the 
strongest possible. In football it is the same. The centre-half 
is the key of the position both for defense and for retaliation. 
He must be strong to repel and powerful to attack, and so a 
centre-half must be judged by his ability to defend and his 
capability to make incursions into the enemy's territory. 

The aspirant to honors in this position must never lose sight 
of the fact that success can come only from hard, untiring, per- 
sistent work. Oftentimes there is rest for the forwards. Fre- 
quently the goal-keeper has nothing to do for lengthy periods 
The backs, too, may have spells of idleness, but the half-backs, 
and especially the centre-half, have no "off" moments. Their 
duties are twofold — attack and defence — and so, throughout a 
game, they must ever be on the qui vive. 

DEFENSE AND DEFIANCE. 

It has often been said that a centre-half's duties are divided 
pretty equally between the departments of offense and defense. 
To me it seems that offense has the preference over defense, 
because, after all, the best defense is attack. It would be well 
for young players to realize this fact. The novice is too apt to 
think that he must lie back in wait for the onslaught of the 
opposing forwards. Far better is it to kill the attack by you 
yourself becoming an attacker. The more you circumscribe the 
movements of the enemy, the better are your chances of over- 
coming him. The more you corner an opponent, the better your 
chances of administering the knock-out blow. So, if you would 
excel as centre-half, make yourself a sixth forward whenever you 
can possibly do so. Your aim should be to corner your opponents, 
not to let them corner you. But perhaps I am getting ahead of 
my subject, since, after all, I am talking of your duties as a 
centre-half before settling the question as to whether you are 
qualified to fill the position. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

What, then, are the qualifications of a centre-half? First of 
all you must be constitutionally strong. Your position is one 
which must meet the buffeting of the main attack. Your position 
is the key to the whole situation. It is against you that attack 
after attack will be hurled. A wavering on your part will be 
fatal to your side, for, once the enemy breaks the main line of 
defense, every other position on your side is weakened. As 



30 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

centre-half you are going to bear the brunt of attack. You may 
be as clever as can be, but unless you can meet force with force 
and strength with strength, sooner or later the foe will break 
down your defense. The centre pier of a bridge must be 
stronger than those nearer the river's bank, because it must 
withstand the stronger currents in mid-channel. So is it with 
the centre-half. The strongest currents eddy around him. 
Sturdy strength is needed to withstand them. So it happens 
that the centre-half must be well-nigh physically perfect. He 
must be sound in wind and limb if he is to last out the game. 
He is constantly on the move, either pressing home the attack or 
falling back in defense, and thus, without a doubt, he is the 
hardest worked man on the field. It follows, then, that he must 
have robust health and vigor, otherwise he cannot last out the 
game. 

A sound physical condition, then, is a necessity for the 
position, and so, if you are a weakling, if you are one con- 
stitutionally unsuited to withstand hard blows and knocks, if you 
are lacking in endurance and stamina, it will be well for you to 
give some other position a trial. Let us assume, however, that 
you are constitutionally strong. There is no occasion for you to 
be an Anak, a giant in physical development, to excel in the posi- 
tion under discussion. In fact, great size and weight are, as a 
rule, unnecessary adjuncts. They leave you a prey to all kinds of 
undesirable possibilities. Any man of ordinary proportions may 
excel, provided he is physically fit. You may be a giant in 
inches, or you may measure only five feet three inches, but 
if you are bodily sound and have the football knack, there is 
no reason why you should not excel, assuming, of course, that 
you are not lacking in other necessary qualifications. 

CONCERNING TACKLING. 

To excel you must tackle well, and to tackle well you must 
be absolutely fearless. Do not think of the reputation of the 
centre-forward as he bears down upon you. Promptitude of 
action is the secret of good tackling. Nothing so disconcerts 
a forward as a sudden swoop upon him. No matter how 
talented he is, he is disconcerted by the fierce onslaught. You 
may not get the ball yourself, but your cyclonic action is almost 
certain to spoil his judgment, his kick or his oass, and the 
ball will go where he never intended it should. Of course the 
forward will sometimes try conclusions with you. Go into 
the duel to win. Get the ball if you can, but if you fail at the 
first attempt, stick to your man like a terrier. Never say "die" 
because the forward outwits you. Go after him and harass 
him until he parts with the ball either to you or to one of 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 31 

his own side. Your idea must be to break up his plan of 
campaign. 

Only incessant practice can teach the centre-half the intuitive 
judgment which proclaims just what an opposing forward is 
going to do. This intuition is, to an extent, a gift, and yet it is 
one which is born of close observation. Therefore, the good 
centre-half must make a study of the wiles and guiles of the 
football field. In the game of chess the good player divines 
the intention of his opponent and his plan of attack right from 
the early moves in the game. In football you must do the 
same. As centre-half you must learn to divine the purpose of 
each move of your opponents. This divination or intuition can- 
not be taught. It comes to you from shrewd observation. Cer- 
tain moves lead up to certain other moves. In time you come to 
recognize them without reasoning out their "why" and "where- 
fore." So is it with centre-half. You must not play your game 
unthinkingly. At first you will reason out the happenings on 
definite, logical lines. "Such a thing will happen," you say, "if 
a certain other thing is done." In time the constant reproduc- 
tion of certain events from certain given causes will teach you 
that given this, that, or the other condition there must result 
a logical sequence of events. In time you look for the result 
without going through the process of reasoning. That is 
intuition. 

JUDGMENT REQUIRED. 

A man may be a good tackier, he may be able to snatch 
the ball from the toe of an opponent, his judgment and intui- 
tion may enable him to intercept the pass of the opposing for- 
ward, but if he does not know how to deal with the ball when 
he gets it, then his other qualifications are of little avail. At a 
glance he must be able to decide what is best to do with the 
ball, he must know instantaneously which forward is most suitably 
placed for taking advantage of his pass, and he must make up 
his mind on the spur of the moment as to whether it will be 
better to have a shot at goal, to dribble, or to send the ball 
out to the wings. The learning of this sharp, decisive action 
is not easy of acquirement, but much practice teaches you to do 
the right thing mechanically. 

Many authorities contend that speed is a necessity for the 
centre-half. If by that the sprinter's speed is meant, then I 
agree. Every centre-half should learn to sprint. Long-dis- 
tance running is not so essential, although it is valuable. Inso- 
much, however, that the centre-half must constantly be making 
dashes here, there, and everywhere, it is necessary that he 
should have a turn of speed. Therefore to all beginners I would 
counsel sprinting exercise. 




A Case of " Hands." 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 33 

I am a great believer in the centre-half having a shot at goal 
as frequently as possible, and for that reason I recommend goal- 
kicking practice from the thirty yards range. Many a time I 
have outwitted an opposing goal-keeper by having a "pot" at 
goal. The goal-keeper never counted on such a happening. He 
was watching to see to whom I would pass the ball, and lo and 
behold, I sent in a high shot for which he was unprepared. I 
have found that it pays to essay the unexpected. That, after all, 
is the secret of attack, to make your onslaught where your 
enemy least expects it. Unconventionality is always perplexing. 

SELFISHNESS A SIN. 

The centre-half, of all players, must be thoroughly unselfish. 
He is in the position where selfishness is most detrimental to his 
side. He is the feeder of his forwards, and he should learn 
never to hold on to the ball when he sees an opportunity of 
advancing the interests of his side by passing to one of his own 
men who is unmarked. Nevertheless, if the centre-half is a 
robust player, there are many times when it will pay both him 
and his team better for him to rush through the opposing 
defense on his own. The very fact that he/ is doing something 
which is totally unorthodox will oftentimes throw the enemy off 
their guard. I have seen many a goal scored in this fashion, 
but I would warn beginners not to make a habit of this pro- 
cedure. Once in a while it answers admirably, but only once in 
a while. Strictly speaking, it is not good tactics, but the best of 
generals occasionally throws tactics to the wind and counts on 
the success which sometimes accompanies a surprise. 

Accurate kicking is essential in a good centre-half, and accu- 
rate kicking can only come from assiduous practice. It is use- 
less to think that this attainment can be acquired by playing in 
the game itself. Accuracy of kicking is solely the outcome of 
assiduity in practice. There is no use thinking that you can 
walk on to the field on a Saturday afternoon and place the ball 
truly and well. You must experiment and experiment and get 
your accuracy of length as does the bowler, who learns his art 
when bowling at the nets. No matter what position you decide 
to play, you must ever remember the old adage that "Practice 
makes perfect." 

A thing to be remembered by the beginner is that there are 
ten other players in the team. In other words, if you would 
excel in the position of centre-half, you must not be selfish. 
You may consider yourself very clever and very gifted. Try to 
forget the fact. Selfishness is an unpardonable error in any 
player. Therefore you must learn the art of combination. Do 
not hang on to the ball just to show your friends how you can 



34 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

trick opposing players. Such gallery play is a big mistake. 
When you get the ball you must make up your mind instantly 
as to what to do with it. If an opponent is right on top of 
you it will probably be necessary for you to try to trick him 
before getting in your kick. If you are unhampered, however, 
see where you can send the ball to be of most service to your 
side. It may be that your outside-left is unmarked ; then you 
must transfer the leather to him. If the. centre-forward is better 
placed, then send it to him. It may happen that the interests 
of your team will actually be better served by kicking to one 
of your own backs. Again, it may be preferable for you your- 
self to carry the ball along. Whatever your judgment tells you 
to do, do it promptly. But, above all things, don't be selfish. 

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING. 

In playing centre-half you must have a thorough understand- 
ing with your fellow-halves. You must so dovetail your methods 
that each one knows what the other is going to do under certain 
given circumstances. When you see your wing man making for 
an oncoming forward you must place yourself in the position 
in which you are most likely to intercept the enemy's pass. In 
fact, you must cover your fellow-player's attack. And all the 
time you must study the methods of the attackers. You must 
note their little tricks. All the best forwards have certain 
methods of their own. Thus different tactics are needed to 
checkmate different players. Some depend on their sudden 
sprint, some on their feinting, some on their combination with a 
certain other forward. You must be quick to note these methods 
and to draw up your plan of campaign accordingly. The art 
of combining with your fellow-players cannot be taught by 
written treatises. Better far is it to study the play of the promi- 
nent players of the day. 

ABOUT HEADING. 

No half-back can play the game properly who has not learnt 
the knack of heading the ball. Any one can head the ball, but 
it is one thing to bring your cranium into contact with it; it is 
quite another, when doing so, to send it with accuracy to the 
player you intend to receive it. This accuracy comes from 
practice. Do not be content, then, at practice time to simply 
have pot shots at goal. Rather have a spell at heading the 
ball. Get one or two of your clubmates to practice heading 
with you. Learn to receive the ball on your forehead, not 
on top of your brain-box, and cultivate the knack of directing 
the ball to the man for whom you intend it. Correct heading 
is of as much consequence as correct kicking. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 35 

How to Play Haif-Back 

By J. T. Robertson. 

[The life of an International player is proverbially short, but 
when it is realized that during his International period J. T. 
Robertson took part in twenty-three matches, captained 
Scotland to victory three times, kicked six goals in these 
games from half-back, ai.d secured twenty-three Caps, it will 
be apparent that the writer of the article printed below must 
be an authority on the subject with which he deals. Surely 
a more brainy player never stepped upon the field than this 
fair-haired, genial "heather-bloom," who is at present the 
manager of Chelsea F.C. Whilst you watch his play you 
can almost see his brain at work, and he writes as ably as he 
plays. Glasgow, Southampton, Everton and London know 
him best, but wherever football is discussed the name of 
J. T. Robertson will ever be recognized as that of one of 
the greatest half-backs that ever kicked a ball.] 

When I was a laddie up in Scotland, and thought more about 
my football game than about my studies, I used to save my half- 
pennies during the week so as to be able to see a game played 
by two of the leading clubs on the Saturday. How I used to 
watch every bit of clever play, and how I wished that I could do 
it myself ! The wish in my case was father to the deed, because, 
in kicking an old ball about on the village green, I essayed the 
tricks which I had seen performed by the football artists in the 
big games. That is what the novice must do if he would become 
perfect. Do not let him be content with witnessing the doings 
of the * * * , and saying, "My word! Isn't that pretty?" 
No, he must take these leading lights as examples and patterns 
on which to fashion his own play, and try to get as much 
effectiveness into his work as do the masters of the game. 
He may never attain their high standard of success, but he will 
undoubtedly improve his style wonderfully. After all, the 
greatest artists in every line began their career by studying from 
models. Consequently I am not one^of those who would decry 
the attendance of boys and youths at" our big football matches, 
provided the said juveniles are there to study, as it were, and 
to learn. Begin by copying. Copy the best, and in time you 
may hope to equal those players who have served you as teachers 
and exemplars. 




A Shot at Goal by Inside-Right. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 37 

LEARN TO ATTACK. 

In giving you my ideas and conception of the "Left Half- 
Back" game I am bound to traverse, to an extent, the same 
ground as is covered by Walter Bull in his article on "How to 
Play Centre-Half." Such a happening is unavoidable, since the 
qualifications of each man in the middle line are very much 
identical. The best training for any one playing on the "Half- 
Back" wings is that which comes from having played as a 
forward. A time there was, of course, when forward was my 
position. In those days ail my strategy was centred in outwit- 
ting the defense. Naturally I practised all the wiles and guiles 
which a forward ought to know. There were not many tricks 
with which I was not conversant. Now that my mission on the 
football field is to check the flying winger, the remembrance of 
my own tactics when I was one of the advance guard stands me 
in good stead. As the wing-man comes rushing down the field, 
I take in at a glance the disposition of the enemy's forces and, 
instinctively, I reason back to the time when I used to create the 
attack, and I know, almost without thinking, what the forward 
is going to do under the circumstances. Such judgment is not, 
of course, infallible, but I contend that the man who has at some 
time or other led the attack is the one most competent in the 
line of defense. I would suggest, then, to the beginner who 
would excel in the half-back line to make his first lesson "How 
to Play Forward." 

After all, is there anything so wonderful in the half-back 
learning the mysteries of attack? Certainly not, for although 
the middle line is one which must be at once offensive and 
defensive, its attacking powers should be more pronounced than 
its repelling ones. Particularly is this the case with the wing 
men. The centre-half may lie back a little ready to cover the 
slips of either of his colleagues, but the outside men should lie 
close up behind their forwards watching their every act, ready 
to accept their back pass, and ever helping to press home the 
attack. The best defense is a strong attack, and every half-back 
should remember that truism. You must carry the game into 
the enemy's territory. Strive to keep them well up towards 
their own goal. Do not allow them to force you back past 
centre-field if you can possibly help it. In fact, learn this 
lesson, "Worry, so that you may not be worried." 

STUDY TACTICS. 

It stands to reason that if you keep well up with your for- 
wards the ball is very often going to be passed to you, and to 




Goal-keeper Ready to Save a Shot from Inside-Right. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 39 

learn to do the right thing at the right time with it is a science 
which comes only with study and practice. Your outside winger 
may pass back to you. You must understand his tactics. That 
pass has not been given thoughtlessly. He sees that you can 
draw the defense, which will give him an opening if you only 
make good use of your opportunity. True enough, you draw 
the defense, and you see at a glance that your winger is 
unmarked. To him you must return the ball. But next time 
the enemy expects that dodge. Different tactics are necessary. 
You may feint to repeat your former play, then with a hard 
kick you transfer to the opposite wing, where you see your 
extreme wing man lying unmarked. Left half-back should feed 
centre and inside-right as much as the wing man. Again, a 
glance may show you that neither of these courses would benefit 
your side. The game to play is for you yourself to take the 
ball right through. Whatever course you adopt must be the 
outcome of judgment and experience. This experience and 
judgment comes only from close observation — in fact, from the 
study of men and their methods. No man can ever excel who 
trusts to fate and luck for guidance in his actions. Genius is 
the capacity for taking pains, and if you would excel in your 
special department you must have a thorough grasp of all its 
details. 

LEARN TO KICK. 

To be able to kick strongly and accurately is a great desidera- 
tum in a half-back. As a forward you may have learnt the 
gentle art of the "tip-top" game. It is a good acquirement to 
be able to dribble and to pass in an attacking movement, but as 
a member of the middle line you must, moreover, be able to 
send the ball long distances. And why? Let us imagine that 
your left wing is pressing home the attack. The enemy have 
concentrated their defense in that quarter. To rush them is 
impossible, trickery is impracticable, but a long kick will trans- 
fer the ball far across the field to where there is a clear space 
and where one of your side is lying in wait to accept your long 
pass. Many half-backs that I have seen seem to confound long 
and hard kicking with good kicking. The long kick is no good 
in itself — in fact, it is often dangerous; but the long and accurate 
kick is a splendid weapon of offense. Let your practice begin 
with learning to kick a long distance. Develop your leg muscles 
by so doing, always remembering, however, to kick with either 
foot. The man who can kick well with only the right foot or 
the left, as the case may be, must ever remain a weak defender. 
There is a chink in his armor. When you have cultivated the 



40 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

art of the strong kick, then you must give your attention to 
accuracy of length. Practice alone can make you perfect in 
this particular. Have you ever watched Braid or Vardon play 
golf? Their driving is beautiful to watch, but it is their accuracy 
in gauging distance which makes them wonderful. That accuracy 
did not come by chance. Hours and days and weeks and months 
of constant application were taken up in the practice which 
has made their names household words. In cricket, again, who 
has not heard of the pains C. B. Fry took to make himself 
master of every stroke. So must it be in your case, to kick 
accurately you must practice assiduously. 

BEWARE OF SWOLLEN HEAD. 

I would issue a word of warning to beginners who are under- 
taking duty in the half-back line to be,ware of selfishness and of 
that terrible malady "swollen head." A half-back, of all men, 
has no right to be selfish. His duty, when he gets the ball, is 
nine times out of ten, to get rid of it. This must not be 
done in any haphazard fashion. The uppermost thought in your 
mind must be as to how to dispose of the ball to the best 
advantage. As a rule you will pass to the forward best placed 
to take advantage of your pass. Or you may transfer it to your 
centre-half, who at the moment may not be so hampered as 
you yourself are. Or it may be necessary to send the ball to 
one of your backs who has a clear field in which to maneuver. 
Your decision must be instantaneous, but the golden guiding 
rule is "Part with it." In the vast majority of instances that 
is the correct thing to do. I admit that exceptional circum- 
stances do arise when it is better to dally with the ball and 
to maneuver for an opening, but, if you are a beginner, an 
observance of the general rule will pay you best. Nothing can 
be worse for a team than the selfishness of one or other of its 
members. Always try to remember that your neighbor is, 
more than likely, quite as good a player as yourself. Do not 
keep all the bun to yourself. It is greedy and selfish to do so, 
and the spectator has a horror and detestation of the man who 
fancies himself a tin god. Again, no matter how clever you 
are — no matter how the people round the enclosure cheer your 
play and greet you by your Christian name and hail you with 
"Bravos !" — do not get a "swollen head." Conceit begets selfish- 
ness, and I have seen enough of the downfall wrought by both 
to put you on your guard against two of the besetting sins of 
youth. 

J SPEED AND STAMINA. 

But I am digressing, since I find myself giving you a lecture 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 41 

on morals instead of hints on how to play the half-back game. 
What other qualifications, then, are needed for the man playing 
either of the outside positions of the middle line? One of the 
chief is speed and the other is stamina. It will fall to your lot 
in the game to hold the flying winger. In nearly every instance 
the outside forwards are very fast runners. If they once get 
past you, there is nothing for it but to race them, and for this 
you need speed. This qualification is not easy of attainment. 
The lethargic and lazy man will not suit at all. To excel, you 
must go in for running exercise on the football ground on week- 
day evenings. If the football ground is not available, you must 
take the road for it. Such exercise will give you speed and 
that which is of as much importance — stamina. Believe me. if 
any man needs the latter it is the half-back. He must be able 
to go up the field as rapidly as his forwards, but, if one of 
the other side's fliers gets possession and races down the touch- 
line, then he must go after him at tip-top speed. Thus he gets a 
double dose of sprinting, once up the field with his own men 
and then down the wing in pursuit of the fleet-footed enemy. 

THE ART OF TACKLING. 

The half-back, too, must learn the gentle art of tackling. Let 
us imagine that you are playing the position of left-half. Your 
first duty in defense is to watch the outside-right forward of the 
other side and incidentally to break up the combination between 
him and his inside-right man. To do this you must tackle fear- 
lessly. Just as faint heart never yet won fair lady, so the half- 
hearted tackle is a thing of precious little utility. When your 
judgment tells you that your correct play is to tackle, do not 
wait to debate things ; go fearlessly forward. It is my experi- 
ence that the man who goes doubtingly into a fight gets the 
worst knocks. Get in front of your opponent, for thus you will 
retard his progress even though you do not obtain possession of 
the ball. If, however, your man gets past you, do not stand 
thinking the matter over. Go after him. Stick to him like a 
terrier. You know it is as hard to shake off the terrier as the 
great big dog. 

SHOOT OFTEN. 

I have been blamed occasionally for having had during play 
too many shots at goal. Well, I may be wrong, but I think that 
our half-backs make a mistake in not shooting more frequently. 
I think a ball coming at hurricane speed from behind a mass of 
forwards and defenders is more apt to disconcert a goal-keeper 
and to take him by surprise than any other kind of shot in the 




Placing the Ball for a Corner Kick. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 43 

game. It is the unexpected coup which does the most damage 
and so my advice to the half-back is : When unhampered up near 
the enemy's penalty line, have a go at the net. It is wonderful 
how frequently these chance shots score. 

USE YOUR HEAD. 

Learn, my dear beginner, to head the ball. The greatest 
artist in heading I ever knew was McMahon, of the famous 
Celtic Club, Glasgow. He was a marvel with his head, being 
able to direct the ball as accurately with it as any other man 
could have done with his hands. The art of heading is easy 
of acquirement. Practice will enable you to excel in this par- 
ticular line. Cultivate it assiduously, for, in those scrimmages 
in front of goal when the ball comes sailing in from a corner 
kick, the value of a good "heading" forward is incalculable. 
There is no use waiting to get your kick in. The other side 
will see to it that many chances are not given you of getting 
your foot to the ball, but your head reaches where your feet 
never would. I shall conclude my article as I began it, by 
counselling the aspirant to half-back honors to watch the play 
of our most noted performers in that department. Note how 
they do things. See how they trick and tackle and head and 
pass. Study their every action and then go and practice what 
you have seen done. Let your models and patterns be the best. 
Strive to copy them faithfully and you must succeed. 




Finish of a Corner Kick from Left Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 45 

How to Play Centre-Forward 

By A. Common. 

[If merit always met with its meet reward, Alfred Common, the 
Sunderland player, Woolwich Arsenal, 1912-13, would have 
been full of honors. It was for him that the big Tees-side 
club paid the record transfer fee, £1,000, and good judges 
of men and players are not going to pay such a sum for any 
but a tip-top man. And Common is indeed one of the finest 
forwards of our time. To him football playing came as a 
gift. It is in him to do the right thing at the right time. 
His play is the outcome of natural aptitude. In his article 
on "How to Play Centre-Forward," he gives to the beginner 
the best possible advice and counsel, advice which has been 
matured by study and experience of the game. What Com- 
mon does not know concerning his subject is not worth 
knowing, and he imparts his knowledge delightfully in the 
present article.] 

The greatest artist is the man who conceals his art. If you 
watch one of our greatest musicians perform — Paderewski, for 
instance — his every action is so simple that it seems to you that 
a child could very well execute any or all of his finger move- 
ments. In a similar fashion it seemed to me, when I first 
witnessed G. O. Smith perform on the football field, that any 
child could do that which I witnessed. He seemed to saunter 
along with the ball at his toe, just as if threading his way 
through the opposing defenders was as easy as shelling peas. 
A tap here and a tap there, a glide, a sinuous twist, and the 
cleverest of defenders was outwitted. It seemed too absurd for 
words that some of the best players in the land should be so 
easily circumvented. Verily, G. O. Smith was one of those 
conjurers whose tricks looked so simple that the merest tyro 
believed he could perform them. 

Yet therein lay the perfection of his art. Its very simplicity was 
the outcome of studied practice. The best footballers are 
those who have given strict attention to training. To excel 
you must be fit. You may have listened to a pianist who, with 
the greatest ease, rattled off the Overture to "William Tell." 
It sounded so easy, and yet, when you gave the matter a thought, 
you must have realized that this perfection could not be attained 
until the "Five-Finger Exercises" and "Czerny's 101 Exercises" 



46 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

had been mastered. So is it with the centre-forward's play. The 
excellence of a G. O. Smith is the excellence of a finished artist, 
of a man who gave thought and study to the rudimentary prin- 
ciples of the forward game. The simplicity of true greatness 
is the outcome of diligent application to the early lessons in 
whatever art is taken up. Therefore, I would say that if you 
desire to become the finished artist, you must begin with the 
rudiments. Accordingly, I say to the beginner, learn thoroughly 
your ABC, learn your multiplication tables, learn your five- 
finger exercises if you wish in time to become the expert. 
No man becomes thoroughly good, or, for that matter, 
thoroughly bad, suddenly. Your ascent or descent is a matter 
of gradual development. 

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING. 

I assume that you wish to become a G. O. Smith or a Geordie 
Kerr. The finished article is a thing of greatness, but G. O. 
Smith and Geordie Kerr — the latter the prince of Scottish 
dribblers — had to begin right at the beginning, just as you 
are doing. They had to learn how to kick, how to dribble, 
how to dodge; and if you would excel, as they have done, you 
too must apply yourself to a study of the game which you are 
adopting. But just as every man is not fashioned by nature 
to be an artist or musician, a sculptor or a painter, so every 
man has not the necessary natural qualifications for becoming 
a centre-forward. I do not think that any standard of height or 
weight can be accepted in this connection. You may be short 
or tall, or heavy in build, or bantam weight, but poundage and 
height are minor considerations in the case of a centre-for- 
ward. I know that numbers pin their faith to a man of weight, 
but I contend that the heavy man is often at a disadvantage 
when compared with the lithe and slippery light-weight. The 
too heavy man is cumbersome, and consequently lacks the sup- 
pleness which goes to make the ideal centre-forward. Anyone 
under the heavy-weight standard is, consequently, fitted for the 
position. It may be said that because the centre-forward is, 
generally speaking, a marked man, he needs weight to oppose 
the vigor which is displayed against him, but B consider that it 
is easier and better to dodge the attack than to meet it with 
force against force. 

THE ART OF DRIBBLING. 

It is said that dribbling is becoming a lost art. I should be 
sorry to think so. It seems to me that dribbling is a qualifica- 
tion to be cultivated. Apart from its prettiness, I believe in it 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 47 

because of its great utility. A good dribbler is always an unset- 
tling factor against the best of defense. There is something 
irritating in an attack which keeps, the defense on tenterhooks. 
A good dribbler always keeps the opposing half-backs and backs 
guessing. A good dribbler can always draw the defense. Notice 
in boxing how the clever feint, the strategic side-slip, and the 
swift dash disconcert your opponent. So is it in football. The 
cleverness of the dribbler will often do more to disconcert a 
defending line than a combined attack from the five forwards. 
How is the art of dribbling to be acquired? Need I say 
that constant practice is essential? To be a good dribbler you 
must have thorough command of the ball. You must be able 
to control it as if you were manipulating it with a piece of 
string. To get a thorough command over it, let your practice 
take the following form. Instead of a football, use a cricket- 
ball. Even without opponents you can learn to control it. Keep 
it right at your toe and see how far you can carry it along 
without allowing it to get more than a yard in front of you. 
One of Scotland's finest dribblers learned his art from practising 
with an old hat. All his science resulted from tricking his fel- 
low-players on the school-ground. With the old hat at his toe 
he learned the art of disconcerting his comrades by the perfect 
control he obtained over the battered headpiece. Therefore 
would I say, cultivate dribbling. It is not so much a lost art 
as a neglected one. 

THE ART OF PASSING. 

Do not, my dear beginner, let dribbling be detrimental to 
your passing game. Dribbling may so easily beget selfishness. 
Therefore you must learn the art of passing. Any player can get 
fid of the ball when he is hard pressed, but it takes an expert 
to get rid of it to advantage. It behooves the centre-forward, 
then, to be a man of quick reasoning and sound judgment. The 
one necessarily follows the other. He must learn to take in 
at a glance the existing condition of affairs in the enemy's lines, 
and this reasoning will beget the judgment which decides whether 
a short or a long pass ought to be adopted. In this respect 
I may quote W. N. Cobbold, the famous Old Carthusian, and 
one of the greatest lights of the Association game. He says : 
"As regards actual combination, my firm belief is that a judi- 
cious mixture of long and short passing is the most effective. 
. . . The great object of short passing is to pass quickly and 
accurately while going at full speed. . . . With regard to long 
passing, let it be done directly one sees one of the outside men 
with a clear opening. Often, when a good run is being made 




Finish of a Corner Kick from Right Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 49 

by one of the wings, the backs on the other side gradually 
come across and leave the extreme part of their own side quite 
unguarded. This is the time for a hard pass — over forty or fifty 
yards, it may be. With regard to all passing, the man must 
use his judgment and decide quickly, and always pass slightly 
ahead of the player passed to." 

The chief thing to remember is to pass as seldom as pos- 
sible, provided that you always do so when an advantage 
may thus be gained for your side. Remember as a rule not 
to pass to your outside men when you are close to your 
enemy's goal, just as it is the safer policy to do so when the 
enemy is swarming round your own. 

ESCHEW SELFISHNESS. 

This question of passing brings up the subject of selfishness. 
Nothing is so unpardonable in a centre-forward. Self-sacrifice 
is always a better policy than self-service. Personal ambition 
ancLvanity should have no place in his make-up. The interests 
of his side should govern his every act. It must not be for him 
to consider who is to get the glory of a scored goal. His only 
thought should be as to how a goal is to be obtained. If ever 
you feel tempted to play to the gallery and to try to "score off 
your own bat," try to recollect that the gallery will be the first 
to condemn you when you fail to accomplish the end you had in 
view. Try to remember that there are four other forwards 
besides yourself, each of whom has got his position in the team 
because the selection committee considered him a good man. 
In other words, recollect that you are not the only pebble on 
the beach. 

LEARN TO SHOOT. 

One thing I would impress on the budding centre-forward, 
and it is to learn to shoot. Much may be done at practice, and 
yet ordinary practice is not everything. It is all very well for 
you to have the ball punched out by the goal-keeper, and for 
you to receive it at twenty yards out and to bang it between the 
uprights. Such practice would be all very well if matters^ were 
so arranged that you would regularly receive the ball in similar 
fashion during the game itself. But things do not transpire 
in that way when you are engaged in a match. You receive the 
ball, as a matter of fact, in all kinds of impossible angles. In 
your practice, then, make it a point of taking your kick from 
all sorts of positions and with all kinds of obstacles between you 
and the goal-keeper. Do not maneuver for position, but try 



50 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

to score no matter how you may be placed. In the game itself, 
follow the advice of Mr. Cobbold, than whom there cannot be 
a better preceptor. 

"When the time comes for shooting, the forward should not 
make straight for the goal-keeper, as then there will be but little 
room to shoot past him. A good cross shot is the best; and 
often, too, a shot with the outside 1 of the foot will quite puzzle 
the goal-keeper, as he cannot tell to which side of the goal it is 
coming. Some goal-keepers who are efficient at saving lofty 
shots will often fail at a low shot, and vice versa. Therefore 
let the forward note his opportunity and shoot according to 
circumstances." 

The centre-forward must ever remember that his chief duty 
is to get the ball towards the goal defended by his opponents. 
Every movement, every play that he makes should be subordinate 
to this main idea. "Forward" must be his watchward. There- 
fore I say, "Do not send the ball backward, even to your own 
men, when there is even the remotest possibility of getting nearer 
the enemy's citadel by a forward pass or kick." 

STUDY THE WING MEN. 

The centre-forward must ever remember that he is the pivot 
of the attacking line. Round him the other forwards revolve. 
He must have a thorough understanding of his wing men, a 
thorough knowledge of their powers and capabilities. He must 
realize their limitations of speed and skill and must act accord- 
ingly. This is no small matter. It means something more than 
being a clever football player. It means that he must be 
a student of the ways and capabilities of his fellow-forwards. 
At a glance he must be able to tell whether the outside left 
or the inside-right is the man capable, at any given time, of 
advancing the interests of his side. It is waste of time and energy 
to pass the ball out to a winger who is too well marked to be able 
to take advantage of your pass. Reason and judgment are as 
necessary in football as in any business with which you are 
acquainted. A cool head and a calculating judgment are 
necessities for a good centre man. The retention of a cool head 
is a difficult matter for the centre-forward chiefly because he is 
a marked man. He is the target for the attacks of the defenders, 
and so I would counsel you not to undertake the duties unless 
you are of a very equable temperament. You must learn to take 
hard knocks with sangfroid, because, once you lose your temper, 
no matter how great the provocation, you are going to sacrifice 
the cool, deliberate judgment which is necessary for success. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 51 

CONCERNING HEADING. 

The art of heading is not so necessary in this department, but 
nevertheless it is an accomplishment which ought to be culti- 
vated. Times there are when you cannot get your feet to the 
ball. At such times, nothing but the head will prevail. Espe- 
cially does heading come in handy when your side forces a corner 
kick. When the ball comes sailing in from the flag-posts there 
is generally such a skirmish in front of goal, defenders and 
attackers being mixed up in glorious confusion, that it is 
impossible for you to get your toe to the ball. It is then that 
your head will prove of service. If you have learnt by practice 
how to use it, you may be able to score by heading through. To 
do this you must have practised and have learnt how to head the 
ball in the required direction. 

A word to young players. When playing centre-forward, do 
not ramble. Remember that you are the pivot of the forward 
line. If you wander, you disconcert the entire attacking line, 
since it is for you to control the wings of the army. Remember 
that in all frontal attacks you are the unit to beget success or 
failure. After all, you are the one to lead the charge. If the 
leader is out of position, the attack will fail. In conclusion, be 
unselfish, be militant and be untiring, and, above all things, do 
not neglect your practice. After all, it is practice which begets 
perfection. 










Back "Heading" Ball Up the Field. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 63 

How to Play Inside-Right 

By S. Bloomer. 

[We know not what football has in store for us, but we might 
safely predict that, come what may, there will never be 
another Stephen Bloomer. Such a genius can live but once. 
As inside-right the old Derby County man has never had 
an equal, and he has gained more International Caps than 
any man living. The Football Association, by virtue of 
his record of International Caps, presented Bloomer with 
his portrait. That is a unique honor for a football player. 
We have been fortunate in getting him to prepare this article 
on the art of playing the position which he understands so 
thoroughly. The beginner could not possibly have a better 
preceptor. Bloomer is not yet a spent force and further 
honors may come his way, but when he does actually retire 
we shall have lost absolutely the greatest forward the game 
has known.] 

It was with some diffidence that I acceded to the editor's 
request to supply him with an article telling how the inside- 
forward position on the football field should be played. It 
may sound absurd for me to say, seeing that I have been 
fifteen years in the game, that I am not qualified to write 
on the matter, but such I feel to be the case. Remember that 
I say this in no self-deprecatory style. I know quite well 
that I have had my fair share of the honor and success to 
be obtained in our glorious game. My country's selectors 
have from time to time signified that they considered me the 
best man obtainable for the inside-right position. As a human 
being, there is just enough leaven of original sin and vain- 
glory in my composition to make me feel proud of the honors 
which have been accorded me. And yet I do not feel that I 
am qualified to give instruction to others concerning the art in 
which I have, to an extent, excelled. 

APTITUDE A GIFT. 

This is not to be wondered at. My aptitude for football 
came to me as a natural gift. Give a certain boy drawing 
materials and paints and the best of tutoring and yet he 
will never become an artist, no matter how much he studies. 
Another boy, denied the advantages given to the former, takes 




Back Volleying. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 55 

to art as a duck takes to water. They say that the poet 
is born, not made. Why signal out the poet? So is it with 
the artist, the musician, and down through the crafts to the 
humble footballer. The Woodwards and G. O. Smiths, the 
brothers Walters and the Cobbolds, the Needhams and the 
Commons are born with the ball at their toe. With them it is 
natural to play the game correctly, to do the right thing at the 
right time, and to fill with amaze their humble imitators. But 
when the gift of football is born in you, it is a most difficult 
task to impart to others the knowledge which you yourself 
possess. On the football field I am constantly doing all sorts 
•of acts, but, whilst so engaged, it never enters my head to 
analyze the why and wherefore of my actions. I just do them 
because the acts spring spontaneously from my football nature. 
But now, when I sit down, away from the football field, to set 
forth in black and white the secret of an inside-forward's 
success, I am appalled by the task I have undertaken. Give 
me a ball and come to the football field and I will show you 
how to do certain things, but how I am to explain in writing 
baffles me. However, I must begin somewhere, so here goes. 
As I have suggested above, the first requisite for an inside- 
forward is that he has an aptitude for the game and for that 
particular position in the game which he is going to fill. If 
you are not constitutionally strong, do not go in for serious 
football. If, however, you are sound in wind and limb and 
wish for a game which will develop your physical powers, 
then come with me and let me see if you are suited to play 
the position in which I myself have almost constantly figured 
since the day I took to chasing the leather with the Derby 
Swifts. As regards height and weight there is no standard 
for an inside-right. You may be diminutive or massive, stunted 
or strapping, puny or portly — these qualifications matter little 
if you are gifted in other respects. Of course, I would never 
recommend a player of Foulke's proportions to play the forward 
game. He is altogether too exceptional a type of player. What 
I mean is that the lengthy man possesses certain advantages 
over the short one and vice versa, and the heavy-weight has 
as many drawbacks and advantages as has the feather-weight. 
Let not considerations of size and avoirdupois, then, weigh 
with you. 

CAN YOU KICK? 

Before you play any position on the field you must learn 
to kick. That sounds simple, but it is not so simple as it 
sounds. Any man can make a lunge at the ball with his foot; 



56 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

but something more is required than this. By practice you 
must know how to vary your strength of kick so that when 
you are in the game you are able to send the ball to the 
exact spot which you intended. Most beginners think they 
have learnt to kick when they propel the ball with their toe. 
That is the kick of the novice. You must learn, especially 
when kicking for goal, to do so with the hollow of your boot, 
that inward curve just in front of the ankle. As inside-right 
you must learn that lesson well, since your passing to your 
centre-forward or outside man must be done by the side of 
the foot. It looks simple when you see a Woodward or G. O. 
Smith do it. It can become simple to you only by practice. 

Let me impress on the beginner to learn to kick with both 
feet. The "one- foot'' forward can never excel. I have noticed 
players, time and time again, when practising in front of goal, 
maneuver the ball so that they may make their shot with 
their right foot. This is an error to be avoided in practice. 
Make your shot with whatever foot the ball may come to. In 
the game proper, the harassing half-backs and backs do not 
alloiw you time to select your best method of kicking and 
shooting. 

ON SPECIALIZATION. 

When you have learnt to kick correctly, find out for what 
position you are best suited. Your experience in a few games 
will soon decide that matter for you. Once, however, you have 
made up yomr mind what part you are going to play, take my 
advice and specialize. This is the age of specialists. The "Jack 
of all Trades" and the "Rolling Stone" should be the guiding- 
proverbs of all footballers. I mvself specialized, and I owe most 
of my success to the fact that I made myself master of the 
position in which I intended to play, viz., inside-right. Let me 
assume that you intend following in my footsteps. What are the 
requirements for your position? 

SELF-POSSESSION. 

I place first on the list self-possession and control. If you get 
flurried and worried, not only do you spoil your own play, but 
you considerably hamper the good work of your colleagues. 
Particularly is this the case in front of goal. It is there that 
the cool head and collected judgment are most needed. You 
may have dribbled beautifully and passed beautifully and have 
won the applause of an admiring multitude, but if you fail at the 
crucial moment the applause is apt to be converted into ridicule, 
and that will not add to your self-possession. Coolness and 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 57 

judgment will come to you if you will bear in mind that the men 
to whom you are opposed are only men after all. Some of them 
may have big names in the football world. That is the more 
reason why you should not worry. If they circumvent you, well, 
you have been beaten by a "big pot." If, on the other hand, you 
outwit the "big wig," the greater will be your glory. 

As an inside-right you ought not to have a single streak of 
selfishness in your make-up. All the world despises the selfish 
man and all true sportsmen despise the selfish player. You 
must ever remember that the centre-forward, on your left, and 
the outside man, on your right, are as much a part of the machine 
which constitutes the side as you are. Do not, consequently, 
hug the ball, and try to» score all the goals yourself. No player 
is so easily dispossessed of the ball as the selfish one, for the 
simple reason that the opposing defenders know quite well that 
he will hang on to it. They have not to concern themselves as 
to where he will pass it. The selfish man gives them only one 
course to pursue. They have only to watch him. 

THE ART OF COMBINATION. 

The art of combination is one which the inside-right must 
learn. It cannot be taught. It is only constant practice with 
your fellow-forwards which will beget accuracy in this respect. 
You must learn the peculiarities of your brother-players and 
must dovetail your style of play to theirs. 

A hint which may sound superflous, but which really is not so, 
is to watch the game. Something of the unexpected is constantly 
happening and you must be ever ready to snap up any opening 
which fortune may present. How frequently do we see a 
winger carry the ball up the touch line and make a pass to his 
inside man, only to find that the man is not there to seize his 
opportunity. If ever you realize that you are in a position where 
you would be unable to use a pass if you got it, you must change 
your position so as to remedy the defect. 

I do not think that our modern players give enough attention 
to the science of dribbling. In my young days it was looked 
upon as an art, and an art it certainly is. As such it needs 
cultivating. As the name suggests, progress is made in dribbles. 
You must acquire the knack of keeping the ball at your toe even 
when going at top speed. Learn it on the practice field when 
you have no opposition. When you can carry the ball along, 
then extend the scope of your practice and try the dribbling with 
your fellow-players opposing you. As with dribbling, so with 
everything else in football, it is practice which makes perfect. 



«£ 






Goal-keeper Drop Kicking. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 



How to Play the Outside-Forward Position 

By J. Kirwan. 

FA dainty little winger is Jack Kirwan, Irish International. His 
name first came prominently before the public when he helped 
Tottenham Hotspur F. C. to bring the English Cup to the 
South after its long sojourn in Northern climes. Kirwan has 
captained the Irish team on many occasions, and it has been 
for none of his shortcomings that Erin has not yet succeeded 
in conquering the Sassenach. Kirwan has the bright intelli- 
gence characteristic of the Irish race and he uses it to 
advantage on the football held. In his article given below 
he gives much useful advice and helpful hints to the be- 
ginner. He has embodied the experience of years in his 
treatise, which should prove invaluable to the novice.] 

I fear that I am courting trouble in undertaking a task wherein 
the enunciation of dogma affords ample scope for the onslaught 
of the critic; but I would say at once that, whilst I proclaim a 
certain standard of merit necessary for the outside-forward 
position in the football game, I by no means claim that I myself am 
up to the standard which I proclaim. Rather am I in the position 
of the fabled preacher who said, ''Do not do as I do, but do as 
I tell you to do." Even on such an understanding I am at a dis- 
advantage, for I fear that as a preacher or teacher I am not 
gifted with eloquence of tongue or pen. However, I have under- 
taken a task and I am in duty bound to see it through. 

I fear that I am not much of a philosopher, but nevertheless, 
in my more thoughtful moments, I feel that the great footballer, 
like the great poet, is born, and not made. Oftentimes you hear 
a man described as a born actor, a born general, a born diploma- 
tist, a born humorist, etc. In the same category you must rank 
the born footballer. His ability is in the nature of a gift. He 
takes to the game instinctively and he rides triumphantly over 
every obstacle to success. Such a one needs no guidance from 
me. Just, however, as there are but a few shining lights, a few 
geniuses in art, in poetry, and in letters, and a very big percentage 
of lesser luminaries, so is it in football. The lesser lights are 
infinitely more numerous than the brilliant "stars," but, neverthe- 
less, hard work and study can supply an amount of polish to the 
former which will render them sufficiently luminous to shine 
in the company of the latter. We cannot all be Bloomers and 




Taking Ball Down Right Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 61 

G. O. Smiths, but we can do the next best thing, and that is, 
make ourselves colorable imitations of the genuine articles. 
With this end in view I am penning the present disquisition on 
how to play the outside-forward position. 

THE FIRST ESSENTIAL. 

I consider that speed is the first essential for the player who 
would operate on the wings of the army. In an enveloping 
movement, such as the Japanese used so frequently against the 
Russians, the horns or wings of the attacking force were the 
ones which had to execute the rapid onward movement. In the 
football attack it is the same. The wings are the speedy units 
and the outside wing men are those who must move the fastest. 
If you are slow, you allow the opposing halves and backs to nip 
in and checkmate you. Remember that an intelligent enemy 
soon discovers your weakness, and, if your foemen are strategists 
and tacticians, they concentrate their forces on your weak spot. 
The centre-forward may be slow and the inside men fairly so 
and yet much harm may not result from their tardiness, because 
by a deft pass to their fleet men on the wings the attack may be 
well sustained. If, however, the wingers are leaden- footed,^ an 
attack cannot be sufficiently pressed home. The first qualifica- 
tion, then, of the extreme wing men is speed. 

TO ACQUIRE SPEED. 

How is speed to be acquired? By good, consistent practice. 
There is no use in depending upon the game itself to bring forth 
your salvation. Before you step upon the sward you must feel 
fit enough to do yourself justice in a sprint race. The man who 
can do the hundred yards in even time is not a product of the 
moment. He has trained himself for the ordeal by gruelling 
work on the running track. It must be the same with you. 
Your sprinting power and your stamina are products of the work 
of which little is seen. The actor who plays to you at Drury 
Lane or the Adelphi goes through his part so naturally and easily 
that you never stop to think of the many rehearsals which were 
necessary to beget his perfection. If, however, he came on the 
stage without having given a thought to his lines, his perform- 
ance would partake of the nature of a fiasco. It is just the same 
with you. One might as well expect the actor to be letter-perfect 
in his part had he not rehearsed it beforehand, as for the winger 
to show his best paces without preliminary practice. If your 
heart is in the game, if you wish to excel, you must learn the 
useful lesson that it is the hard work, done out of sight of the 



62 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

spectators, which will fit you for the trying part which you are to 
play under the limelight of public observation. 

Your first aim, then, must be to cultivate a useful turn of speed. 
Once you get into form, a few turns on the sprinting path will 
keep you in condition. But with speed you must generate 
stamina. In your position you will be called upon to keep 
almost incessantly on the "go." Again it is practice which 
begets this necessary qualification, but stamina is not begotten 
by running exercise alone. Anything which accentuates your 
powers of physical endurance will be advantageous. Thus, 
manipulation of the dumb-bells, skipping-rope training, gym- 
nastics, swimming, boxing, physical culture exercises— in fact, 
anything to beget staying powers can be recommended. Yet 
one word of advice to the beginner, and that is not to overdo the 
thing. Too many youngsters, and, for that matter, grown-up 
people, think that they do themselves good by absolutely fatigu- 
ing themselves. There could not be a worse mistake. The man 
who overtaxes his strength, in any form of athleticism, absolutely 
does harm to himself. 

CONTROL OF THE BALL. 

Let us assume that by sensible attention to training you have 
generated speed and stamina ; what is the next qualification for 
the outside-forward who would excel ? You have learnt to sprint. 
You must now go a step further and learn to do your rapid run 
the while you keep absolute control of the ball. The sprinting 
powers of an Athersmith or a Bassett would have been of little 
use to these wonderful forwards had they not possessed the 
happy faculty of keeping the ball at their toe the while they 
careered down the wing at lightning speed. The matter looked 
so simple to the uninitiated. But that is the way with genius, 
which is the capacity for making that which is most difficult look 
as easy as the proverbial "falling off a log." It is impossible for 
me, or any one else, to explain how such a perfect control of the 
ball is obtained. Only assiduous practice can teach the art, and,, 
when you learn it, I'll guarantee that you cannot well explain 
how the thing is done. I know you will blame me for not 
giving you useful hints and recipes, but what can I say? You 
have watched the masters of the art. Go tc your football ground" 
and emulate their example. At first your attempts to combine ■ 
speed with control of the ball will appear to you ludicrous. Do( 
not despair on that account. Just keep on trying and you will 
reap the reward of perseverance. Have you ever had a trick at 
cards or legerdemain explained to you? You attempt it. At' 
first your manipulation of cards or coins is ludicrous, but after 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 63 

a while you become perfect in working the illusion. So is it with 
control of the ball. At first your movements are clumsy and 
unconvincing, but in time you obtain an amount of skill which 
perplexes the onloojcer. So will you rind it in controlling the 
elusive leathern sphere. Here again practice makes perfect. 

CONTROL OF THE TEMPER. 

After control of the ball comes control of the temper. No 
man ever excelled in any sport or pastime who had not a 
complete mastery over his temper. Anger is the enemy of 
reason and judgment, and so I contend that the best training for 
the footballer, no matter in what position he plays, is that which 
produces an equable disposition. This characteristic is specially 
needed in the case of an outside-forward. He it is who will 
receive the special attention of the defenders. Too often a back 
or half-back thinks that the best way to stop a flier is to bundle 
him off the ball, and the methods adopted are none too lamb-like 
and gentle. It is not, I admit, a pleasurable sensation to be 
charged again and again by a man a stone or two heavier than 
yourself. It is far from enjoyable to find yourself a target for 
the heavy charges of your adversaries. But, do you gain any- 
thing by letting loose the floodgates of your ire? Not at all. 
By so doing you sacrifice judgment to vindictiveness. When 
you do that you make a tacit admission that you are beaten. 
Such an admission is against the canons of sport. 

WHAT IS A STRATEGIST? 

One of the most necessary qualifications for an extreme wing 
man is adaptability, the secret of suiting your play and your 
tactics to the ever-changing vicissitudes of the game. It was the 
poet Pope who wrote : 

"Or with the occasion and the place comply, 
Conceal your force, nay, sometimes seem to fly." 

You are not a strategist when you have only one set of tactics. 
The methods which will enable you to outwit a Bonthron may 
be totally unavailing against a Howard Spencer, and so you 
must learn, and that early in the game, what procedure is best 
under existing circumstances. If you find that you are fleet- 
footed enough to out-distance the back in a sprint, your game 
may be to tip the ball past your opponent and then outpace him. 
On the other hand, you may find a back opposed to you who is 
practically as speedy as yourself ; then you must look to your 
inside man and centre-forward to combine with )'ou in non- 
plussing the defense. The great thing is that you must cultivate 






& 



I 




Placing Ball for a Penalty Kick. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 65 

judgment sufficient to note the weakness of the enemy and then 
you must adopt measures to make that weakness your strength. 
You must recollect that a player who has but one course of 
procedure is soon summed up and it is easy for his opponent to 
checkmate him. Just as in chess or draughts the man who 
indulges in but a stereotyped kind of a game is soon under- 
stood by his opponent, so in football the player who does 
not develop originality of opening and attack is soon understood 
and mastered by his antagonists. It will be well, therefore, for 
you to cultivate originality of procedure. Remember that it is 
the unexpected movement which perplexes the enemy. You 
must vary your attack. On one occasion you may outwit the full- 
back by giving the ball a deft touch past him and then beating 
him in a sprint. The next time he is looking for you to repeat 
the operation. Instead, you tap the ball to one of your own 
forwards and then get into position to take the return pass. 
Again, you may carry the ball right up to the full-back and then 
suddenly pass back to one of your half-backs. The great thing 
is to vary the nature of your attacks so that the opposing back 
may be kept guessing all the time as to your intention and play. 

THREE STYLES OF PLAY. 

The outside man must also remember that there are three 
styles of play — (i) That of the individual, (2) that of combina- 
tion and (3) that of collectivism. I have spoken above, of the 
individual play. That of combination means the blending of 
your style and method with those of your fellow-players in the 
forward and half-back lines. A side which combines well will 
always beat a team of individual stars. The whole secret of 
combination consists in remembering that you yourself are not 
the only player on your side, and that your aim must ever be to 
dovetail your work into that of your fellow-players. You must 
understand their peculiarities, their powers and their limitations, 
and knowing these you must, when you get the ball, so play in 
conjunction with your fellows that the greatest possible good 
may accrue to your side. Selfishness must be "taboo" to you. 
Remember that selfishness never pays in the long run. By try- 
ing to score off your own bat, as they say in cricket, you may 
gain a momentary, fleeting glory. Lasting glory comes from 
unselfishness. 

Collectivism is purely an accentuation of combination. Com- 
bination is the art of associating yourself with the doings of your 
immediate colleagues. Collectivism is the science of subordi- 
nating your personal prowess to the welfare of the entire team. 




Goal-keeper Ready to Receive a Penalty, 



SrALDlNCTS ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 67 

You must remember that you are but a unit, after all. You may 
be a very powerful unit, but you are only one of a team of 
eleven. Your own peculiar style may fit you to attempt this, that 
or the other play, but you must recognize that your individual 
brilliancy can only be of service if it is in harmony with the style 
and method of the entire team. Oftentimes, then, you will find 
it necessary to sink your individuality, to sacrifice your peculi- 
arities, to adopt a style foreign to your nature because your 
individualism does not blend harmoniously with the collectivism 
of your side. In other words, you must model your procedure 
so that you play a game suited to the requirements of your team 
as a whole. 

LEARN TO SHOOT. 

Shooting for goal is done, as a rule, by the inside men, but the 
outside forwards, nevertheless, must learn this splendid art. 
Time and time again it will pay you to send in a slashing shot. 
These shots from the wing are particularly dangerous because 
they come, as a rule, from a very oblique angle. They are most 
perplexing to the goal-keeper, and, even though they only hit the 
upright or cross-bar, they rebound in such a way that an opening 
is created for the inside men. These wing shots partake of the 
nature of a good centre with the added advantage of flurrying 
the goal-keeper. In fact, your motto should be, "Get the ball 
into the centre, and the closer you get it to the defending goal- 
keeper, the greater the chance of your inside men scoring." 

One word more before I conclude. You may be either outside 
right or left. No matter which position you occupy, you should 
learn to kick with either foot. In the game itself, your opponents 
will not allow you the opportunity of choosing your method of 
shooting. So you must be able to kick instantly with either foot. 
You can learn the secret of kicking accurately with both feet by 
practising the art at practice. 

However, pen descriptions can never teach you the science of 
the game. More can be learnt by example than by precept, and 
so my advice to you is to watch the exponents of the game. 
Note their methods. Make a study of the best players and then 
try to emulate their example in practice and in the game. 



68 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 

Advice and Hints to the Young 
Football Player 

By John Cameron. 

[No more talented player ever came over the Border than 
John Cameron. He was a member of the famed North 
London team which brought the Cup South in the season 
1900-1. He, more than any other, was answerable for this 
result, since it was he who introduced the classic style of 
play which made the Spurs a puzzle to their opponents. 
It was with the famous Glasgow club, Queen's Park, that 
Cameron first leaped into fame. Then he played for Everton, 
but it was with Tottenham Hotspur that he made his name 
a household word. He was the best type of brain player, 
He is a rare judge of character and of men, and is a coun- 
sellor whose advice must be always treated with respect. 
You will be convinced of this when you have read the fol- 
lowing article from his pen.] 

If there is one piece of advice, one helpful hint, which I would 
emphasize more than another it is do not make Football your 
business. As a recreation, a strength giver, a manly pastime, 
it cannot be excelled, but football as a profession should be 
avoided. It is the most precarious of callings. In it a man 
may be at the height of his fame to-day. An unlucky kick, 
an awkward fall, and to-morrow may see the end of his career. 

My own case may be cited as an example of argument to 
the contrary, when I thus deprecate football as a business. I'll 
readily admit that I have been very fortunate. My playing days 
over, I find myself in a comfortable billet in connection with 
the game. That is very true, but against my case I could cite, 
I may say, hundreds of footballers who were players of my 
time, and who would now be glad :o accept the wage of the 
ordinary mechanic. Remember, I am not claiming any merit for 
myself because "I am not as others." The fact of the matter is 
that I have been one of the very few fortunate ones. I remem- 
ber my friend Mr. Pickford writing the Morning Leader on this 
very topic and telling of the old professional players who, great 
men in their day, now hang round the football grounds on the 
chance of receiving a "bit" for the sake of the days gone by. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 69 

THE GLAMOUR OF THE GAME. 

I know there is a glamour surrounding the personalities of 
our great players which attracts the youthful as the light attracts 
the moth. To me as a boy up in Scotland there never had been 
such heroes as Charlie Campbell of Queen's Park and Geordie 
Kerr and the brothers Vallance of the Rangers, and Doctor 
Smith, and McAulay, and McKinnon, and Gillespie, all of whom 
are but names to the present generation. Not even Robert Bruce 
and William Wallace, with Bannockburn and Stirling Brig to 
their credit, could hold pride of place in my affections. To me 
the great footballers were demi-gods. 

And so I warrant it is now, but do not be led away, my youth- 
ful friend, by the glamour and glitter of things as they seem. 
It is all very well to receive the bouquets and the flowers, the 
cheers and congratulations, but these things are ephemeral and 
you realize it when you have been in football as a business for 
a very short time. In your calmer moments you pause to con- 
sider things. You say to yourself, "Ten years is a lengthy career 
for a professional player. After that, the reserve team. After 
that, what?" Yes, what? A pity it is that the old professional 
cannot live on the cheers and applause which one time greeted 
the well-shot goal. But recollections, be they ever so sweet, will 
not put bread and butter on the table and a leg of mutton in the 
larder. Go out and watch your favorite player this afternoon. 
As you applaud his pretty play, pause to .ask yourself the ques- 
tion, Where will he be ten years from now? 

A POPULAR MYTH. 

Please do not run away with the notion that I expect all old 
professionals to end their days selling matches and boot-laces. 
Such is not my meaning. What I would say is that the plums 
are so rare in professional football that the game, as a business, 
is not worth adopting, unless you combine with it another trade 
or calling. My youthful critic will say, "Oh, but I'll get four 
pounds a week wages, and in ten years I'll save enough to start 
some other business." My answer to that is, who told you that 
you would get four pounds? There is a popular impression that 
nearly every paid player draws the maximum wages. That is a 
mistake. I know of a good team which last year did not pay a 
single one of its players more than two pounds ten. Apart from 
that, however, how are you to guarantee yourself a ten years' 
career? Be you ever so gifted and clever, an accident may at 
any moment put you out of the game forever. Moreover, each 
succeeding year sees the addition of hundreds of talented players 




Finish of a " Penalty" Kick. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 71 

to the ranks of professionalism. Youth will be served, and your 
position on a team is never sure for a single season. In point of 
fact, you may take it from me that the calling is distinctly over- 
crowded. 

HAVE A TRADE. 

Let me assume, however, that you have a distinct bent for 
football. You feel that you are gifted and talented enough to 
make a first-rate professional football player; your inclination 
is towards the game and your heart is in it ; you feel that you 
could distinguish yourself chasing the elusive sphere. Very well. 
You are approached by some prominent club to sign a profes- 
sional form. If you do so, take my advice and make such terms 
and arrangements that you may continue the exercise of your 
trade or calling. If you are a good man there will be but little 
difficulty in arranging matters so. I know quite a number of 
players who follow their ordinary avocations the while they arc 
professional members of a big club. In fact, club directors prefer 
men who have a trade or profession to fill in the great amount 
of spare time which the paid player must have on his hands. 
It is a recognized fact that the great trouble with the professional 
is that he has too much leisure. If he has nothing to engage his 
attention, there is always the temptation existing for him, of the 
saloon bar and the billiard room. Only too many players have 
had their powers impaired and their careers ruined because they 
had too much time in which to do nothing. Therefore, I say, 
if you decide to adopt football playing as a career, always have 
some other business on which you can fall back when the occa- 
sion arises. 

'A good name at home is a tower of strength abroad," and 
I have invariably found that the professional players who have 
earned the greatest respect, both on and off the field, are those 
who have not allowed the glamour of fame to blind them to 
the stern requirements of life. I recollect reading an article 
by Sandy Tait — surely one of the steadiest and headiest players 
that ever donned a football shirt — wherein he dealt with this 
very question of professional players having a trade or pro- 
fession to fall back upon. He cited the instances of Walter 
Bull, Charlie O'Hagan and Alec Glen having attended evening 
classes with a view to preparing themselves for the serious 
business of life. If I could only impress upon beginners to 
take pattern from these men I feel that I would have done 
something for the benefit of the game I love. . Play professional 
football if you like, but learn a l«rade that it may keep you out 
of temptation. 




'■ ■ . ■ . 



Back Ready to Tackle. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 72 

SOME .TEMPTATIONS. 

The worst temptation a beginner has got to face is that of 
drink. When you become a popular pet your admirers think 
that they can best show their appreciation of you by buying you 
beer and Scotch-and-soda. To many of your fatuous admirers 
it seems an honor to _ be allowed to pay for your drinks at 
the "Pig and Whistle." Men who know you solely by having 
seen you play for their favorite team will love to brag how 
they met "Jack So-and-so" or "Tom So-and-so" who played so 
well in the Cup Tie, and had several drinks with the said Jack 
or Tom. Beware of such admirers. Such hero-worship, at 
best, is very transitory. When your playing days are over, 
free drinks will not be so plentiful. 1 am not a preacher of 
teetotalism, much as I admire the teetotaller. I have met splen- 
did players who were total abstainers, and equally splendid 
players who were what I would call moderate drinkers, but I 
have never yet met a heavy drinker who could be said to have 
been a lasting success in professional football. These drinkers 
may last for a time, but invariably they shorten their career, 
and, when the playing pitch knows them no more, we find them 
amongst those whom Mr. Pickford quotes as haunting the en- 
trances of the football grounds in the hope of borrowing a bit. 
Borrowing indeed. Too often it is a case of begging. 

BEWARE OF BACCHUS ! 

Nor is it the grand stand admirers alone whom the young pro- 
fessional has to guard against. I do not think he is anything 
so dangerous as the old player who worships at the altar of 
Bacchus. The beginner is only too apt to be led by the old 
stager. To the novice it is a sort of an honor to associate with 
a man who has already made his name, and so an invitation 
to come across to the "Red Lion" and "have one," or to "run 
in to-morrow and have a game at billiards" at the "White Horse" 
is an allurement which too often is not recognized in its true 
light. Tread warily when you first join the professional ranks. 
It was the old Latin poet Ovid who wrote, "Withstand be- 
ginnings ; too late comes the medicine when the evil has grown 
strong through long delays." It is far easier to say "No" at the 
commencement than when you have got into the habit of say- 
ing "Yes." Begin with "No" if you are wise. 

THE STRENUOUS LIFE. 

The beginner must recollect, that the professional's career 
is not all honey. It may seem, at first glance, that the player who 




Heading into Goal." 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 75 

performs in only two games a week has an easy time. But 
has he? Apart from the fact that he may be badly kicked or 
maimed in any match, he must keep himself absolutely lit by 
a severe course of training. In ordinary trades or professions 
a man may indulge himself in all sorts of enjoyments and pleas- 
ures and yet be successful in his calling. In professional foot- 
ball the player must lead a Spartan life. He must keep in 
condition all the time, and so a hard course of training and of 
self-denial must be his lot for eight months out of the twelve. 
Therefore, if you are not prepared to forego many of the 
pleasures of life and to make yourself a sort of machine to 
be wound up and kept going quite independently of your own 
wishes and inclinations, a football professional's career is not 
for you. 

WATCH AND PLAY. 

However, I may be going ahead of my theme in an article 
which should comprise hints as well as advice for the young 
football player. Much has been written by critics of the game 
concerning the tendency of the youth of the present day to 
watch the game rather than play it. Personally I do not like 
to see boys giving over their Saturday afternoons, which ought 
to be devoted to health-giving exercise, to the passive enjoyment 
of witnessing others perform. I do heartily agree, however, 
with the young fellow who occasionally watches a good class 
match that he may make a study of the play of the masters of 
the game. He goes there to learn, to see how things should be 
done, and he utilizes the knowledge thus obtained in perfecting 
his style and methods. Such procedure is praiseworthy. The 
youthful spectator who is also a student will ever have my best 
wishes for his success. There is no more manly pastime than 
football. It is essentially a British game which brings out all 
the best points and characteristics of the British character. 
It teaches pluck, endurance and resourcefulness, and begets 
physical strength and stamina which will stand you well in the 
ordinary battles of life. I have seen the weakling made strong 
by a course of football, but to reap its benefits you must not 
overdo it. Do not live for football. Let it be solely a recrea- 
tion which will fit you for better tackling your studies or your 
trade. 

DO NOT ATTEMPT TOO MUCH. 

The great mistake made by youth is in trying to do too much.; 
\ young fellow may promise well in his play and forthwith 
he is invited to join a club whose members are much older: 
.and bigger than himself. In striving to show his capabilities 




A Shot at Goal from the Left. 



* SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 77 

in such an instance he is apt to overtax his strength. Far 
better is it to play with young fellows of your own age and 
size and so develop your powers of endurance ere you take on 
the stiff encounter for which yen are physically unfitted. In 
time you will develop strength and stamina needed, but take 
my advice and begin warily. In your early days never play 
so hard that at the end of the game you are exhausted. The 
exercise which begets exhaustion is distinctly harmful, and it is 
in youth that folly most frequently sows its seeds. Play, 
then, with lads of your own age, and play so that you feel 
physically benefited after every match. 

GOVERNMENT OF TEMPER. 

One little bit of advice, which will do for players of all ages, 
is to cultivate an even and equable temper. You will need it on 
the football field. The man who cannot control his temper 
when he receives the hard knocks of the game ought not to 
participate in it at all. It is better to give than to receive 
when it comes to a matter of a kick on the shin or a dig in 
the ribs, but you must be equally prepared to receive as to 
give. To learn to meet "the slings and arrows of outrageous 
fortune" with a smiling face is to cultivate a character which will 
stand you in good stead in the strenuous warfare of life. 

It is not my intention to give you any hints as to how to play 
the game. The other writers in the handbook — and better 
authorities could scarcely be found — will do that, and so I shall 
conclude with a little advice on general matters. Many youngsters 
when they finish a match contim;e to wear their football clothes 
for the rest of the day. That is a great mistake. By so doing 
they are inviting chills, influenza and pneumonia. When you 
have done playing do not continue to wear any article of apparel 
in which you played. Change into your ordinary clothes and see 
that your football knickers, shirt and hose are properly aired 
before again playing in them. 

COMFORTABLE CLOTHES. 

Whilst on the subject of clothes let me counsel you to wear 
only the garments which fit you comfortably. Apropos of this, 
I can never recall the first match in which I played without 
a smile. It was when I was a laddie at school up in Scotland 
that, by a penny collection, we were able to purchase a ball. 
When I went home and told my mother that I was selected 
to play on the Saturday for one of the teams, the old lady felt 
pleasurable pride in the honor which had been conferred upon 




Goal-keeper Saving a Shot from the Left Wing. 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 79 

me. Now she knew as much about football as a cat knows 
about the hieroglyphics on Cleopatra's Needle, but she was 
determined that 1 should go forth in raiment which would 
redound to the credit of the clan Cameron. Therefore Saturday 
saw me arrayed in my Sunday clothes and, tell it not in Gath, 
the dear old soul had starched my shirt-front and cuffs. When 
r.iy coat and waistcoat were doffed for the fray a more glossy- 
fronted warrior than I never faced the foe. It was the stiffest 
game I ever played, and I was proud of that shirt-front. For 
a time I guarded it from harm, but eventually the wet and 
muddy ball landed fairly and squarely on my chest. I could 
have wept for the desecration of that beautifully-laundered shirt, 
but realizing that the harm was done I bustled into the game 
with a vengeance, and before its finish there was more mud than 
starch in my make-up. We won, but all the glory of victory 
was dimmed by the look of horror on my mother's face when 
she saw my cuffs and shirt-front. I think that the dear old 
lady had confounded football with croquet. 

I have told this tale to point a moral. Wear clothes which 
are comfortable, and particularly must this be the case with 
your boots. Get your boots from a reliable athletic outfitter 
(A. G. Spalding & Bros, carry a most complete line of football 
shoes), and when you have got them, guard them carefully. 
Well do I remember my father hiding mine in my youthful 
days, so that I should not be able to play. I borrowed my 
brother's, two sizes too large, and came in for a double dose of 
whacking, one lot from an exasperated parent, the other from 
an outraged big brother who could not find his boots for his 
own Saturday game. 

My last word to beginners, and, in fact, to footballers generally, 
is "Play the game." Never let your conduct bring discredit 
upon it. Its enemies are ever waiting to raise their voices 
against it on the slightest pretext. Take the best men for your 
models— the G. O. Smiths and the Woodwards— who play the 
clean game. Stoop to nothing shady and you will be esteemed 
by friend and foe alike. 



80 SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 



A Chat on Many Football Topics 

By J. A. McWeeney ("McW." of London Football Star and 
Morning Leader.) 

[J. A. McWeeney, who contributes the following article, is better 
known to the Southern football world as ''McW." of the 
London Football Star and Morning Leader. He thrives on 
football nourishment and has done so since the days when he 
used to play the game in Scotland. He has played, too, in 
England and in France, and even in Southern Italy. Football 
is his best love, but after football he knows of no game so 
entrancing as baseball. In fact, he is one of the Organizing 
Secretaries of the British Baseball Association and contends 
that the game will, in less than ten years' time, be as popular 
as his beloved "Soccer." He is working hard for such a 
consummation. His hobby is the writing of very wicked 
poetry, which he gives to the world under the titles of 
"Bad Ballads" and "Odious Odes." He does not allow his 
innate modesty to stand in thd way of his business success 
and that is why he is editing the present book.] 

As an ardent lover of the best of British sports and that is 
football, I oftentimes feel wroth when I read the criticisms of 
it from the pens of those who know practically nothing about 
it. Thus, a year or two back, one of our leading actor-managers 
took the British public to task because it patronized the football 
games rather than the theatres on Saturday afternoons. To 
him it was lamentable that youth should give more attention to 
sport than to art. Here, in passing, let me say that we hear 
far too much nowadays of theatrical art. Not one man in a 
thousand goes to the theatre to be educated. We go, one and 
all, for recreation and amusement, that our minds may be dis- 
tracted for a time from the stern realities of life. Therefore it 
savors much of cant when I hear the actor say, "Come and 
see me and be educated. Do not go to the football game which 
is debasing and brutalizing." To him I reply, "Why go to the 
stuffy theatre and breathe vitiated air simply to see a number 
of men and women playing the parts of other men and women, 
when I can breathe the fresh air of heaven and watch actors, 
just as clever and artistic in their way, play their parts on the 
football field?" Time and time again as I have passed down the 
Strand on a Saturday afternoon and have seen the anaemic and 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 81 

neurasthenic youths waiting for the theatre doors to open I have 
regarded them with sorrow. Those weak-kneed, spineless, pale- 
faced youths had hetter far spend their afternoon chasing the 
leather, or, failing that, tilling their lungs with pure air whilst 
watching a match. It is all very well to prate of theatrical 
art. Candidly speaking, J have never met much of it. I have 
written a little for both the theatre and the music-hall, but 
always with the view of amusing rather than of educating, and 
that, I contend, is the aim of ninety-nine per cent, of the writers. 

Holding, as I do, that the theatre exists almost entirely for 
recreation and amusement, I cannot see wherein it is one 
whit better than the football field and I love not the actor- 
manager who condemns our sport without knowing anything 
concerning it. 

The argument is adduced, "How can you expect good sport 
from paid players?" You might as well say, "How can you 
expect good acting from hired mimes?" A football match is 
as much a spectacle as is a Haymarket or Adelphi play, and 
the players are the actors who serve up our entertainment. 
Amateur theatricals are very well in their way and so is amateur 
football, but to get the acting of a high standard you must pay 
your professionals. They play for pay, it is true, but that is 
the very reason why they give us of their best. Like the actor, 
the paid football player may soon be out of a shop if his ability 
desert him. There are constantly springing up fresh artists all 
eager to appear before the public. They are pushing out the 
worthless ones, and so you may take it that the paid player gives 
of his best because the game means bread and butter to him. 
The amateur may be lackadaisical or dilatory because he has 
nothing at stake. Not so the professional. He must always 
be up to concert pitch to keep his place in the team. Fault is 
found with football because the various clubs all over the 
country are not run with home-bred talent. Thus, for instance, 
Middlesboro' or Manchester City. Tottenham Hotspur or Fulham, 
may not employ any local players whatever. To that I again 
reply that football is an entertainment. When Beerbohm Tree 
produces "The Winter's Tale" does he draw his caste entirely 
from London? Certainly not. He selects his actors and actresses 
on account of their ability to play certain parts. What does it 
matter to him whether his selections hail from London or Liver- 
pool or from Sheffield or Newcastle? He is providing a certain 
entertainment, a certain spectacle for those who care to pay 
their money to witness it. The better the caste the more chance 
of success and the greater the surplus in the treasury. It is 
just the same with football clubs. They are supplying an enter- 




Oh 

be 
a 






SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 83 

tainment, a play, as it were, for all who care to pay to see it. 
As the actor-manager selects his actors, so does the club manager 
select his players. His aim is to get the best possible set to 
give satisfaction to his patrons. Then why should anyone 
grumble at the importation of players from towns or districts 
other than their own? They do not grumble at Newcastle when 
George Alexander brings his play there from the St. James's 
Theatre, London. We do not raise the cry of "Support home 
talent" when Caruso comes to London. We want the artists 
to entertain us and we care not whence they come. Then why 
should it be otherwise in football entertainment? 

Let us here change the topic. Critics of the game, even 
clergymen amongst them, are never tired of telling us that 
football usurps too much of our leisure time. We are told 
that we could be better employed in reading or gardening or 
some other profitable pastime. That may be so, but I contend 
that football has done more than any other agency to lessen the 
evil of drunkenness. Too often the mechanic and workman 
does not indulge in a hobby. Hard graft during the week is 
hobby sufficient for him and on Saturday afternoon he looks 
for a pastime. I can remember the time when the rule of the 
worker on leaving the factory or shop was to make for the 
public bar, there to meet his boon companions and fellow- 
workmen. One drink used to lead to another and the money 
which ought to have been taken home to the wife was too often 
squandered on beer. Football has worked a marvellous change 
in this matter. The workmen and mehanics who follow the 
fortunes of their club rush home to snatch a bite of something 
to eat before proceeding to the match. During the game there 
is precious little opportunity for drinking and when the game is 
over it is time to hustle off home to tea. It can be seen, then, 
that football by claiming its devotees on Saturday robs the 
public-house of much of the patronage which it used to have. 
Very rarely indeed will you see a man drunk at a football match. 

As with the spectators so with the players. I do not mean 
to say that there are not certain black sheep in the fold, but 
it is wonderful what temperate lives are lived by our football 
professionals. A better type of player has been evolved, too, and 
we have only to contrast the teams of to-day with those of some 
years back to be convinced of it. The days when teams used 
to raise riot in the hotels at which they stayed, when night was 
made hideous and sleepless by the din of bolster fights and 
horseplay, are gone. Saunter into the hotel where one of our 
professional teams happens to be staying and you will meet 
a set of healthy-looking young fellows, muscular and well de- 




Dribbling the Ball. 



SPALDING'S A1I1LETIC LIBRARY 85 

veloped, whose conduct is all that could be desired from a set 
of University athletes. The football professional in nine cases 
out of ten knows how to behave like a gentleman. Never was 
I more convinced of this than when I met the Spurs and Wool- 
wich Arsenal players on their travels. I found them gentlemen 
in every respect. 

Once again let us change the topic. Let us discuss another 
matter which is ever bobbing up in football controversy and 
that is, Has the quality of our football deteriorated? Nearly 
every writer who knew the players of the game twenty to thirty 
years ago contends that it has, but, nevertheless, I will not have 
it so. It is in nearly every man's nature to be what Horace called 
"laudator temporis acti se puero" (a praiser of the good old 
times when he was a boy). Early impressions, as you know, 
are the most vivid and lasting. I can remember so well as a 
boy gazing upon the town hall of the little Scottish town in 
which I was born and considering it a grand and imposing 
building. The streets, too, seemed, to my youthful eye, long 
and broad and beautiful. Then I went to college in Aberdeen. 
Returning, some three years after to my native place, how shrunk 
and shortened seemed the streets, how mean and insignificant 
looked the town hall. Of course I know that my earliest impres- 
sions were erroneous and yet, do you know, when I think of my 
native place I invariably remember it with all the imposing 
grandeur with which my boyhood's fancy first clothed it. So is 
it with the critic. His memory may carry him back to the days 
when Queen's Park, and Vale of Leven, and Dumbarton, and the 
Rangers were making football history in Scotland ; to the days of 
McKinnon, Doctor Smith, McClintock, Charlie Campbell, Geordie 
Kerr, Gillespie, and the brothers Vallance. To me it sometimes 
seems that I never knew such a centre-forward as Geordie Kerr, 
such a prince of half-backs as Charlie Campbell, and yet I know, 
when I sit down to reason out matters, that I have seen many 
players, since those early days, who have quite outclassed them. 
The fact of the matter is, moreover, that we are too apt to form 
our judgment of football in the past by the individualism we re- 
member. The Cobbolds and the brothers Walters impressed us as 
being giants of the game, and because they were individually 
brilliant we write down the football of their period as brilliant. 
There is not, nowadays, sufficient room on the stage for all who 
deserve the limelight. You may pick out certain individual 
players of the past and say, "There! I defy you to match 
them." It may be that I could not do so, but I hold the opinion 
most strongly that better all-around football is being played now 
than ever before. The individual players and individual teams 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 87 

shone in the past because there was room on the stage for their 
display of heroics. Nowadays we have a plethora of heroes 
and universal excellence begets in our minds an idea of squat 
mediocrity. 

Once more changing our topic, let us chat concerning the 
improvement of the game. I am one of those who believe that 
it has not yet reached its full development. It is very well to sit 
down and view the game and to say that all is perfect with it. 
For one thing, the off-side rule must sooner or later be amended. 
It is very well to say that the rule is easily understandable. It 
may be so when you are working out matters by diagrams and 
explanations, but in the hot contest neither player nor spectator 
has the leisure to reason things out on strictly logical lines. The 
result is that the constantly pulling up of men for being off-side 
detracts from the interest and the enjoyment of the game. For 
my own part, I would rule that a player could not, under any 
circumstances, be off side in his own half of the field; that is, the 
half which his side is defending. This arrangement would check 
the one-back method of play, which is irritating to the on-looker 
because of the stoppages in the game which its adoption necessi- 
tates. Again, who can say that eleven men on each side is the 
correct number to give the best exhibition of football? Is it not 
possible that the field is just a trifle overcrowded? Why should 
not the game be played by nine men on each side, a goal-keeper, 
a back, two half-backs and five forwards? Do not brand me as 
a heretic and schismatic for advancing such a suggestion. It is, 
after all, merely a suggestion, but I should like to see the nine- 
men-a-side experiment tried all the same. The play, I believe, 
would be more open and more goals would be scored, and goal- 
scoring is what spectators like to see. 

There are various other topics on which I would like to 
discourse, but limitations of space forbid. For instance, there is 
the maximum wage question. But no, I will not start on it as 
I should need many extra pages to deal with the pros and cons 
of that vexed tooic. 



y;< 



SPALDING'S ATHLETIC LIBRARY. 



Definition of Terms 



Place kick A Place Kick is a kick at the ball while it is or 

the ground in the centre of the field of play. 
Free kick A Free Kick is a kick at the ball in any direction 

the player pleases, when it is lying on the ground. 
A Place Kick, a free kick, or a penalty kick must 

not be taken until the Referee has given a signal 

for the same. 
Carrying Carrying by the goal-keeper is taking more than 

two steps while holding the ball, or bouncing it on 

the hand. 
Knocking on Knocking on is when a player strikes or propels 

the ball with his hands or arms. 
Handling Handling and Tripping. — Handling is intention- 
ally playing the ball with the hand or arm, and 
Tripping Tripping is intentionally throwing, or attempting to 

throw, an opponent by the use of the legs, or by 

stooping in front of or behind him. 
Holding Holding includes the obstruction of a player by 

the hand or any part of the arm extended from the 

body. 
Touch Touch is that part of the ground on either side 

of the field of play. 



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needle Each. $10.00 

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buckle fastening. Each, $2.50 

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employed in the manufacture 
of Athletic Goods enables us 
to offer the best obtainable for 
the purpose. When buying 
" Soccer" Foot Balls, Shoes, 
Shirts, Knickerbockers, etc., 
always look for the Spalding 
Trade-Mark. 




PROMPT AnENTIQN GIVEN TO I 

ANY COMMUNICATIONS 
ADDRESSED TO US 



A.G.SPALDING & BROS. 

STORES IN ALL LARGE CITIES 



FOR COMPLETE LIST OF STOKJ 

SEE INSIDE FRONT COYEt i 

OF THIS BOO! « 



PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. For Gonad,™ price* see .peci*l CeiudUB CttakfH 




>** y 



!*$• 



if 



TN TRACK AND 
X FIELD SPORTS 

Spalding implements are pre-eminent. 
From the running shoes for Olympic 
winners to the missiles of weight 
throwers, Spalding goods are always 
in evidence when championships are 
won or records made. 

Ruling bodies in track and field 
athletics certify to Spalding Quality 
in the recognition of Spalding im- 
plements for use in Olympic and 
championship contests. 

Don't be led astray by the false 
cry of cheapness and "just as good." 
Remember that superiority in com- 
petition is the result of Quality in 
equipment. 



i^^^ 



NEW YORK and all ^°^R^i 

CHICAGO large cities in the _*£*"$ 

SAN FRANCISCO United States SYDNEY 



ATHLETIC 



A separate book cover. 
and is Official 





...SPALDINC.;,,,,,.. 
ATHLETIC GOODS 

K THE S TANDARD OF THE WORLD 

AG. Spalding ® Bros 

TAIN WMOltS/,1 I ,„,( or,,.. .- , „7Z- _ V ' - ■■-» *VVT Kj . 



N LWA i) 



•■;■""- UMILAl,.) SAVFHANCISCO 

NEWARK INDIANAPOLIS OAKLAND 

1'HILAUELPIII.A STM.0l.MS ,.„ s anGFIFs 

BOSTON DETROIT SEATTIC 

"ITn'.Mv- CINCINNATI POKTLANI, 

ROCHESTER Cll:V,:UNI1 SALTLAKEC.TV 

SYRACOsr C ° LUnBUS DENVER 

PITTSDURCH ATLANTA KANSAS CI, 

ITTSBURGH LOUISVILLE MILwaukff 

BALT.MOR* DALLAS MrNNLAPOL.S DE S« 0IN 

WASHINGTON NEW OR! LANS ST PAOr 

LONDON. ENGLAND MONTREAL AN TORONTO CAN 

LIVERPOOL. ENGLAND EDINBURGH SCOTLAND 

BIRM.NGHAM. ENGLAND GLASGOW SCOTLAND 

MANCHESTER. ENGLAND PAR1S . FRANCE 

£ -. . BR L S . T ° I " ENGLAND SYDNEY. AUSTRALIA 



WW YORK CHICAGO SAM FRANCISCO CRICOPEE Mi« 
BBOOKLTN BOSTON PE.LADELPBU ioSSoN^NO^" 



